Suspect in fatal suburban mall shooting indicted

The suspected gunman in last month’s fatal shooting in an Orland Park mall has been indicted on a murder charge.

Jakharr Williams was indicted Friday by a Cook County grand jury in the Jan. 21 shooting death of Javon Britten and will remain held without bail, according to a statement from Orland Park police.

Williams, 20, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery, aggravated discharge of a firearm and several weapons charges, police said.

He was already held without bail on a weapons charge. Williams had turned himself in to police three days after the shooting after police released his name and photo, according to his attorney Jose Zamora.

In his initial bail hearing last month, prosecutors laid out the series of events that led to the shooting inside the Orland Square Mall, located near 151st Street and La Grange Road.

Britten was with his brother and a cousin when they came across Williams in the mall, prosecutors said. All four knew each other from their time at Rich Central High School.

Williams started arguing with the group near the mall’s lower-level food court before he pulled out a gun and opened fire, according to prosecutors.

Britten was shot in the chest and a bystander was grazed in the leg, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Britten staggered from the food court area and collapsed near an H&M clothing store about 100 feet away. First responders were at the scene in minutes and took Britten, of Richton Park, to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died, authorities said.

Williams escaped police, but parts of the encounter were captured on surveillance cameras at the mall, and witnesses identified Williams as the shooter, prosecutors said.

Orland Park police said they concluded their investigation of the shooting on Feb. 1 and turned over information to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Williams is due to appear in court again on Feb. 20.