Steven Blanchard / Photo from Cook County Sheriff’s office
BY BRIAN SLODYSKO
Chicago Sun-Times
A third man was charged Sunday in the December 2013 slaying of Leroy Griffin, who was beaten then shot in the head by rival gang members outside a Chatham gas station.
Steven Blanchard, 26, who was charged with first-degree murder, is accused of being the triggerman who killed Griffin. He was ordered held without bail during a brief appearance before Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil.
Blanchard was in an SUV with six other people on Dec. 21, 2013, when someone spotted Griffin, 19, and a friend outside a gas station near the 7900 block of South Lafayette Avenue, according to authorities.
The group spilled out of the SUV and started beating Griffin, Assistant State’s Attorney LaShunda Cooperwood said. Meanwhile, Blanchard chased after Griffin’s friend, who sprinted away from the gas station. Blanchard fired shots at the friend but headed back to the gas station when he didn’t hit him.
As Blanchard walked back to join his group, he saw Griffin running toward him, Cooperwood said. He took aim and fired a single shot, striking Griffin in the head.
Blanchard, of the 1500 block of East 72nd Street, then rejoined the group, which fled in the SUV, authorities said.
Griffin, of the 7500 block of South Langley Avenue, was pronounced dead a short time later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Lamont Jackson, 24, and Louis Smith, 25, also were charged with murder in Griffin’s death in December 2014.
Parts of the attack were captured by surveillance cameras, though the shooting itself was not, prosecutors said.
Blanchard confessed to shooting Griffin when he was questioned, prosecutors said.