Geno Paget / Photo from Chicago Police
BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
A man convicted of second-degree murder in 2001 is now accused of fatally shooting a 21-year-old man during a May carjacking in the Ashburn neighborhood.
Geno Paget set up a cannabis purchase for May 27, and Paul Pyron accompanied the drug dealer for the transaction, said Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Novy.
Authorities said the drug dealer drove a black Ford Expedition to the 2300 block of West 80th Street with Pyron in the front passenger’s seat. Novy said Paget approached the vehicle alone and after the drug dealer handed him the cannabis a second person appeared.
Paget explained that he didn’t have the money for the drugs and the two men got into the backseat of the vehicle, Novy said.
The drug dealer told the men to exit the vehicle, and both men initially got out on the passenger’s side, Novy said. Paget’s acquaintance then allegedly opened the passenger’s side door and implied a robbery by saying, “You know what this is.”
The drug dealer pulled Pyron out the driver’s side door and the two ran from their vehicle. The drug dealer then heard gunshots and saw Pyron on the ground and Paget’s acquaintance holding a gun, Novy said.
The drug dealer escaped and returned moments later to find Pyron on the ground with blood on his chest.
Pyron, of the 1400 block of West 77th Street, died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Pyron was the youngest of three siblings, but was always mature for his age, said longtime friend Kevin Harvey.
“[Pyron] never asked me for anything, even though I was so close to him,” Harvey said. “Him having that mindset that ‘I’m not gonna depend on anyone else to succeed,’ that independent factor he had about him, whatever I gotta do to survive, that was great about him.”
The drug dealer’s vehicle, which contained his wallet and cell phone, was gone, Novy said.
Police later recovered the vehicle, but the wallet and cell phone were missing, Novy said.
Novy said Paget was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2001 for second-degree murder. In 2010, he was sentenced to four years in prison for robbery and was facing a pending aggravated battery to a police officer charge.
On Thursday, Judge Laura Sullivan ordered Paget held without bond.
A public defender noted Paget attended Kennedy King College for two years and lives with his fiance and children.
— Contributing: Rummana Hussain