Caprice McCollum Jr. | Homicide Watch Chicago

No bond for man charged with killing Caprice McCollum and Jerome Phelps during dice game in North Lawndale

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 10:31:29 -0500

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Laquan King | Chicago Police

A man accused of fatally shooting Caprice McCollum Jr. and Jerome Phelps as they played dice in August in North Lawndale was ordered held without bond Wednesday.

Laquan King, 20, of the 1400 block of South Ridgeway faces two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting that happened Aug. 16, according to Chicago Police.

McCollum, 16, and Phelps, 19, were at a dice game in the 1600 block of South Springfield about 9:45 p.m. when King walked up with a t-shirt covering his neck and face, and pulled out a firearm, according to prosecutors.

King shot McCollum in the head and Phelps tried to run away, but stumbled and fell, prosecutors said. King then picked up Phelps’s head and shot him multiple times in the neck, shoulder, ribcage, hip, buttocks and leg.

Jerome Phelps

King and an accomplice ran from the scene. McCollum was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and Phelps was taken to Stroger Hospital, authorities said. Neither survived.

Nine expended cartridge cases were recovered from the scene, prosecutors said. A witness who heard the shooting told police King and another person were involved, and Phelps’s brother identified King as the shooter in a photo array. Another witness at the dice game said he went to elementary school with King and identified him as the shooter.

The other suspect has not yet been found, prosecutors said. Judge Laura Sullivan ordered King held without bond Wednesday.

Murder charges filed for shootings of Jerome Phelps and Caprice McCollum in August in North Lawndale

Jeff Mayes — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 12:40:48 -0500

By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Laquan King | Chicago Police

A man has been charged with fatally shooting Jerome Phelps and Caprice McCollum Jr. as they played dice in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side last summer.

Laquan King, 20, faces two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting that happened Aug. 16, according to Chicago Police.

The victims were playing dice in the 1600 block of South Springfield about 9:45 p.m. when King walked up and fired shots, police said.

Phelps, 19, was shot multiple times and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:26 p.m., authorities said. He lived in the 1800 block of South Ridgeway.

McCollum, 16, was shot in the head, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he later died, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 1800 block of South Avers.

King, of the 1400 block of South Ridgeway, was scheduled to appear in bond court Wednesday.

16-year-old Caprice McCollum dies after shooting in Lawndale that also killed Jerome Phelps

Jeff Mayes — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 09:08:45 -0500

A dice game in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side turned deadly for 19-year-old Jerome Phelps and 16-year-old Caprice McCollum Jr., when two suspects started shooting Sunday night.

The victims were playing dice in the 1800 block of South Springfield about 9:45 p.m. when two male suspects approached and fired shots, police said.

Phelps, who was shot multiple times, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:26 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 1800 block of South Ridgeway.

McCollum was shot in the head and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 4:08 p.m. Monday, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. He lived in the 1800 block of South Avers.

Jerome Phelps, 19, was shot multiple times and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:26 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 1800 block of South Ridgeway.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire