Johnny Reese / Photo from Chicago Police
BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
Johnny Reese drove a gunman to shoot another man as part of an ongoing dispute, prosecutors said. The bullet instead struck a 37-year-old mother of three attending a nearby party on Mother’s Day weekend.
Reese, 23, was outside near South Aberdeen Street and West 113th Place when he saw a 27-year-old man with whom he had an ongoing dispute get into the passenger’s seat of a car about 7:50 p.m. May 9, said Assistant State’s Attorney Alex Molesky.
Reese and another person then got into a Chevrolet Suburban, which Reese drove a short distance to block the intersection, Molesky said. The other person then got out of the SUV and opened fire on the car, she said.
At least one of the bullets struck 37-year-old Summer Moore as she was walking near a front yard in the 11400 block of South Aberdeen Street, authorities said. Family members said she was attending a party to celebrate a teenage relative’s prom send-off when the gunshots rang out.
Moore, of the 3100 block of West Marquette Road, was shot in the chest and died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
“We heard gunshots, and we started to run,” Moore’s cousin, Chant’e Moore, said after the shooting. “We all was running towards the house. People were falling over one another.”
The 22-year-old driver of the car attempted to flee in reverse, but crashed into a parked car, Molesky said.
Reese and the gunman fled, but the shooting was captured on video surveillance, Molesky said. Reese was later identified by eyewitnesses as the driver, she said.
Summer Moore / Family photo
Reese, of the 11400 block of South Union Avenue, was still charged with two counts each of murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm, police said. The gunman has not been charged as of Thursday afternoon, but source said he was being questioned by detectives.
On Monday, Reese appeared in court dressed in a black T-shirt and black shorts. Judge Laura Sullivan ordered him held on $1 million bond.
Reese was convicted of a misdemeanor gun charge in 2008 and a misdemeanor cannabis charge in 2011.
Reese has a 2-year-old child and works as a Tribune deliveryman, his lawyer said.
He will be back in court July 18.