By RUMMAN HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
A 17-year-old boy is the second person to be charged with a Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood shooting that left teenagers Donta Parker and Sakinah Reed dead earlier this month.
Joshua Lofton is the second person charged in the Jan. 5 shooting in the 7500 block of South Dorchester. He faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
The shooting left Parker, 16; and Reed, 17, dead and another 16-year-old boy wounded, authorities said.
Last week, 16-year-old Anthony Murphy was ordered held without bond for his role in the shooting, according to the Cook County state’s Attorney’s office. On Wednesday, Lofton was ordered held on $1 million bond.
Murphy, already on probation for a weapons case, gunned down Parker, 16, and Reed, 17, from a green Ford Explorer in the 7500 block of South Dorchester, Cook County prosecutors said in court last week.
The SUV was driven by another juvenile co-offender, Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Whang said, though Murphy allegedly told detectives he was the driver at the time of the deadly incident.
Whang said Murphy shouted gang slogans before he started firing about 3:30 p.m.
Parker suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen, Whang said. Reed was shot twice in the back and once in the leg.
The surviving teen–a 16-year-old boy–was shot in the leg and finger. He identified Murphy as sitting inside the SUV, as did an employee of a nearby BP station where surveillance video captured the Explorer minutes before the shooting, Whang said.
Six .380 caliber shell casings and two fired bullets were recovered from the scene. The Explorer was recovered by police a day after the shooting. Inside, a .380 caliber shell casing that matched the shell casings from the scene was found on the windshield, Whang said. The back of the SUV also tested positive for gunshot residue.
Murphy, of the 7800 block of South Kimbark Avenue, attends Hirsch Metropolitan High School, according to an assistant public defender.
Judge James Brown said “there is no question in my mind” that Murphy is a “danger to the community and himself.”