Chicago man killed in shooting outside convenience store

An Illinois man was shot and killed outside a local convenience store Thursday.

The suspect, who was caught a short time later, has reportedly confessed to the crime, according to police.

The Forrest City Police Department reported Ryan Chandler, 35, of Chicago, was shot inside his 2008 Lexus, bearing Texas tags, that officers found parked between the front doors and gas pumps at Jordan’s, 2335 N. Washington in Forrest City.

Rodney Montezy Ward, 24, whose address is listed as both Mabelvale and Memphis, is charged with first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and refusing to submit to arrest.

The shooting was reported to police about 12:20 p.m., nearly 30 minutes after the store’s surveillance footage shows the car pulling onto the store’s parking lot, according to the report.

According to police, at 11:48 a.m., the camera footage shows Chandler’s 2008 Lexus “pulling up from around the back of the store and stops in front.”

A couple of minutes later, a black male, wearing a hoodie, exits the passenger side and walks around to the driver’s side “for a few seconds” before walking away from the scene.

FCPD Chief Deon Lee said Chandler’s vehicle sat in the parking lot for over 20 minutes before anyone got close enough to see the man and call police.

When officers and other first responders arrived at the scene, Chandler was found slumped over in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, which was still in gear, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Lee said Ward fled west and was taken into custody a short time later on St. Francis County Road 224 near the Highway 1 Bypass.

Police believe the men met online.

“While looking at the victim’s phone, we saw where he had been in a lot of chat rooms,” said

Lee. “We think he met this guy online, came down, picked him up and this and that.”

Officers found evidence in Chandler’s vehicle showing he stopped at a gas station in Marion about 11 a.m., Thursday, after they believe he picked Ward up in Memphis.

“He stopped at a gas station in Marion right before he got to Forrest City,” said Lee.

Chandler’s death is the fifth murder to occur in Forrest City this year and the fourth since April 4.