Bond Set at $1 Million Apiece For 3 Jailed in Connection With Bloody Ambush Beating on Courthouse Steps

The three Joliet men held in connection with Monday morning’s bloody ambush beating on the steps of the Will County courthouse were locked up on million-dollar bonds.

Christian Blackwell, 23, Martell Jones, 26, and Makhi Jones, 20, all were on parole when they were arrested Monday. Blackwell did prison time for robbery, Martell Jones for drugs and damaging property, and Makhi Jones on a gun possession conviction.

Blackwell and the Joneses lay in wait outside the courthouse for a 22-year-old man and pounced on him as he left through the Jefferson Street exit Monday morning, police said. The man spilled so much blood in the sneak attack on the courthouse steps that the sheriff’s department shut down the exit until the mess could be mopped up.

Police said Blackwell, the Joneses and the beaten man are “rival gang members” and all four had “been in the courthouse attending a pretrial status hearing for Christopher Stamps,” a 16-year-old charged with gunning down another teen, 16-year-old La’Tray Wright, in October.

Wright and Stamps, were in different factions of the same gang, police said. Hard feelings reportedly developed between the two over unkind Facebook posts and that led to the killing.

Blackwell and the Joneses all were charged with aggravated battery and mob action. The beaten man was taken to Presence St. Joseph Medical Center.

Stamps’ home on California Avenue was shot up the day after Wright was slain. Police believe the attack was done in retaliation for the fatal drive-by.

During Wright’s wake, two black-clad gunmen opened fire on mourners but succeeded only in hitting a car, a house and Minor-Morris Funeral Home.

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