Myron Mason / Photo from Chicago Police
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
A 33-year-old South Side man gunned down his ex-girlfriend in front of their two young children because he was angry over the transmission of a sexually transmitted disease, Cook County prosecutors said.
“I know what I did. I’m the one that called. I killed her. I killed my wife,” Myron Mason allegedly told police after he drove himself to the Grand Crossing District police station and was arrested for Mechelle Lewis’ murder Tuesday night.
Although Assistant State’s Attorney Barry Quinn wouldn’t give details, he told Judge James Brown on Thursday that Mason violently lashed out because he was upset over “a sexually transmitted disease.”
While their children — ages 8 and 5 — looked on, Mason shot Lewis eight times as she sat in the driver’s seat of her parked van outside her house in the 7200 block of South Bennett Avenue, Quinn said.
Lewis’ current boyfriend witnessed the shooting from the corner of 72nd Street and Bennett Avenue and called 911, Quinn said.
Mason and Lewis, who broke up in December after a 10-year relationship, had been arguing over the phone prior to the deadly shooting, Quinn said.
A few minutes later, when Lewis pulled up to her street, she saw Mason was waiting there in his white Buick, Quinn said.
Seeing her ex, the 28-year-old woman drove around the block before coming back, Quinn said.
Mason had driven away but quickly pulled up, got out of his car and allegedly began firing.
The couple’s 5-year-old son was in the front passenger seat of the van and their 8-year-old daughter was in the back when the bullets showered into the vehicle, Quinn said.
Mason then took his son out of the car, then leaned down and whispered something to Lewis before hitting her head with his gun, Quinn said.
Mason dropped the weapon at the scene and fled in his Buick with his two children in tow, Quinn said.
Mechelle Lewis / Photo from ABC7
But since Lewis’ current boyfriend gave police a description of Mason’s car, he was stopped 10 minutes later.
Mason’s arrest report says he was stopped at 7040 S. Cottage Grove Ave., which is the Grand Crossing District police station.
“I don’t have a gun on me,” Mason told police, according to the report. “I dropped it by my car.”
Mason, a purported member of the Black P. Stone street gang, admitted to shooting Lewis and had called his sister and Lewis’ stepfather to admit what he did, authorities said.
His children also identified him as their mother’s killer, Quinn said.
Brown ordered Mason, of the 8600 block of South Kingston Avenue, held without bail Thursday.
Mason was arrested in 2002 for attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm, according to court records. In that case, he was found guilty of aggravated discharge of a firearm and was sentenced to six years in prison.