By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
Larry Luellen Jr. | Illinois Dept. of Corrections
A man has been sentenced to 75 years in prison for the fatal shooting of Roberto Clemente High School student Frances Colon in 2013 in Humboldt Park.
Larry Luellen Jr., 41, was convicted of the teen’s murder on June 23 following a jury trial before Judge Arthur Hill Jr., according to Cook County court records.
Luellen was aiming for a 28-year-old man he was arguing over a drug deal with when he instead shot the 18-year-old Colon, a college-bound senior at Clemente, authorities said at the time.
Luellen, a member of the Black P Stones gang, got into a drug-related dispute with the intended target 20 minutes before the shooting about 7 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2013, in the 1100 block of North Pulaski, according to prosecutors. He then went to a barber shop to get a gun and returned, chasing the man and firing six times, but missing the man and striking the teen once in the upper back.
Frances Colon | Facebook
Officers nearby heard the gunshots and found Colon in the 1100 block of North Pulaski. She was able to identify herself to police, but died about an hour later at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy found she suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the back.
The intended target of the shooting, the 28-year-old son of a local pastor, had an extensive criminal background, and refused to cooperate with police, who believed he knew the shooter.
Judge Hill handed down the 75-year sentence on July 31, according to court records.
Luellen, a Bolingbrook resident, was booked into the Menard Correctional Center to begin serving his sentence on Aug. 1, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.