‘I was scared for me and my wife and my kid’

Teen charged in girl’s murder tried to carjack family

An 18-year-old man who was shot by Chicago police after he fled from officers and then tried to carjack a family including a 4-monthold and a 1-year-old on the Eisenhower Expressway has been charged in connection to the murder of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams in a McDonald’s drive-thru, the police superintendent announced Saturday.

Marion Lewis was arrested about 4:15 p.m. Thursday on the Eisenhower Expressway near west suburban Hillside, according to Chicago police. He was identified as one of the people involved in the fatal shooting of Jaslyn and the wounding of her father, which happened Sunday at a McDonald’s drive-thru.

In addition to a charge of first-degree murder, Lewis is facing a slew of other felony charges including aggravated vehicular carjacking with a firearm, attempted first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated assault of a police officer and more. Lewis was also wanted on a warrant.

During a livestreamed news conference Saturday afternoon, Chicago police

Superintendent David Brown said he was going to hold off on revealing many details of the case because there are still other suspects involved in the murder of Jaslyn who have not yet been captured. Brown would not say what police believed Lewis’ role was in the shooting.

“You can run, but you can’t hide. We are going to bring you to justice for this crime,” Brown said. “The Adams family deserves nothing less.”

At a vigil Monday afternoon, Lawanda McMullen, who said she was Jaslyn’s grandmother, remembered her as an active, fun-loving child, “a normal 7-year-old” who was very loved.

Brown said at a previous news conference held Thursday evening that the shooting of Lewis by a police officer started as a surveillance operation in a western suburb. During an “escape,” Lewis took off on the inbound Eisenhower and then crashed on the shoulder of the expressway as police tried to stop him.

After crashing, he tried to carjack a family traveling in the same direction on the expressway. That’s when police confronted him, and an officer shot him multiple times, Brown said. Though state police indicated the suspect also fired, Brown said this was not clear.

Lewis was shot in the arm and did not suffer life-threatening injuries, according to police spokesman Tom Ahern on Thursday.

Two guns were recovered from Lewis, Brown said.

The officer or officers involved will be placed on routine administrative duties for a period of 30 days, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and state police were investigating.

A Chicago Tribune reporter reached the 23-year-old motorist with his two infants in his back seat who Lewis attempted to carjack. The man shared his story Friday over text message and requested not to be identified for fear he could be targeted.

The man, of Las Vegas, was driving a Land Rover into Chicago with his wife, their two young children and a friend to see The Bean, he said. They were visiting an aunt in Racine, Wisconsin, before they started driving the aunt’s car to the city.

They were stuck in traffic on the Eisenhower when he saw a cloud of dust that he later learned was kicked up when the suspected carjacker crashed the vehicle he had been driving.

He then saw a shadow at the back of his car.

A man was suddenly at his window, pointing a gun and ordering him out of the SUV.

“Get out, get out of the car, get out,” the man said he remembers hearing, followed by a loud bang as his window was either smashed or shot with the gun, he said. Glass shards flew into the left side of his face.

The man then tried to open the driver’s door.

Through the windshield, the 23-year-old spotted a police officer running toward the SUV. Something tugged at his jacket as he got out of the Land Rover, possibly the man attempting to take his car yanking him out.

With the man’s family still in the back seat, the suspected carjacker got in the Land Rover.

From outside his car, he yelled to a police officer who had run up with gun drawn that his 22-year-old wife, 4-month-old son and nearly 2-year-old daughter were still inside. A family friend was also able to get outside the car.

“I was scared for me and my wife and my kids,” he said.

The officer ordered the man out of the car several times, as the driver of the Land Rover yelled to the officer that his family was still inside.

The officer then fired his gun.

“At that moment, all I thought of was if my kids or wife were hit,” he said. “And if they were, are they still alive? Never thought of myself.”

The officer pulled the carjacker to the ground as other officers came up and detained him, he said.

No one in the driver’s family was badly injured, he said, and he is thankful his wife and children weren’t shot.

He later learned the man who tried to take his car was a suspect in Jaslyn’s shooting.

“I want justice for the little girl’s family,” he said.

“You can run, but you can’t hide. We are going to bring you to justice for this crime. The Adams family deserves nothing less.” — David Brown, Chicago police superintendent