Two charged with orchestrating robbery that led to deadly shootout
Two 18-year-old men were ordered held without bail Wednesday for allegedly orchestrating a robbery that turned deadly in Stony Island Park earlier this week.
Deontae Malone and Jeremiah Jordan had planned to rob Sean Wilson, who was selling “lean” — a street name for a drink made with cough syrup — but ended up killing him Monday when a gunfight erupted after a concealed-carry permit holder in the passenger seat of Wilson’s car opened fire, Cook County prosecutors said.
During the shooting, the unarmed Wilson, 21, was shot in the neck. Malone and Jordan also were hit, prosecutors said.
Malone had reached out to Wilson and set up a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the 8400 block of South Cregier Avenue after Wilson had posted on Facebook that he was selling the drug cocktail, prosecutors said.
Once there, Malone and Jordan approached Wilson’s car and took the drugs but gave Wilson only $6 in return, prosecutors said. Malone said he could pay for the remainder with Cash App, a finance application that allows two people to exchange money.
Wilson said he didn’t have the app, so Wilson and Jordan asked the 30-year-old man seated in the passenger seat if he did. The 30-yearold man told the pair he did have the app but said they needed to “stop playing,” Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.
That’s when Malone pulled out a .40-caliber handgun and Jordan walked up to the passenger door with a 9mm handgun before announcing a robbery, prosecutors said.
The alleged robbers became frustrated when neither Wilson nor the 30-year-old man had cash on them, prompting Jordan to fire a round into the 30-year-old man’s leg, prosecutors said.
The 30-year-old man, who is licensed to carry a concealed gun, pulled out his own pistol and took aim at Jordan, Murphy said, and told Wilson to “pull off.”
As Wilson began to drive away, the concealed-carry holder heard several gunshots and returned fire through the open passenger door, before noticing Wilson started having a seizure and was bleeding from the neck, prosecutors said.
Wilson crashed the car and later died, but the older man remained at the scene and told officers what happened, prosecutors said. Reports of two men running with guns in the area led police to find Jordan in the basement of a home with a gunshot wound to his right leg, prosecutors said. Jordan, of Hazel Crest, was taken into custody before being transported to an area hospital for treatment.
Malone, of South Chicago, showed up at
Trinity Hospital a short time later with a gunshot wound to his arm. He was placed in custody after he was treated, prosecutors said.
In interviews with detectives, Jordan and Malone allegedly admitted to preplanning the robbery, though both denied shooting first.
Evidence recovered at the scene supported the concealed-carry holder’s version of the shooting and that Malone had likely shot Wilson, prosecutors said.
Both men are charged with murder, attempted murder and armed robbery.
Malone’s defense attorney, Herschel Rush, suggested his client and his alleged cohort may have fired in self-defense.
Jordan’s assistant public defender argued that because the shooting happened between two parties involved in an illegal drug deal, his client would not be a danger to the community if released on bond.
Judge Arthur Wesley Willis said while it was “a very compelling argument,” he disagreed, saying the defendants allegedly started the shooting in a public street.