Three Charged In Oak Lawn 'Drug Deal Gone Bad'

Caption: Shaquon Carter, 20, of Lynwood; Latika Martin, 19, of Calumet City; and Torron Hawkins, 21, of Lynwood, are facing multiple charges in a June 7 Oak Lawn home invasion. | Cook County Sheriff

A search for a shooting victim led to charges in a midday home invasion in Oak Lawn lead to charges for three people in what is being termed as an alleged “drug deal gone bad.”

Shaquan Carter, 20, and Torron Hawkins, 21, both from Lynwood, and a 19-year-old Calumet City woman, Latika Martin, are each facing multiple charges of home invasion, armed robbery and aggravated discharge of a firearm, where all three appeared in bond court on Friday.

Information provided by Oak Lawn police indicated that around 1:54 p.m. June 7, learned that Chicago police and Chicago firefighters were searching for a shooting victim in 10200 block of South Pulaski Road.

Oak Lawn police joined those efforts and found a man shot in the hip in an apartment on the same block. The wound was non-life threatening and the man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center. There, police learned that the man and another person were the intended targets of a home invasion. Oak Lawn police launched an investigation that led to arrests of the three suspects on June 11.

According to the charges, Martin arranged a fake drug deal to buy some Xanax from the man through phone calls and text messages. The other person in the house watched Martin drive up in a silver Chevy Equinox.

Prosecutors said that when Martin arrived at the third-floor apartment, she pretended that she didn’t have enough cash and left. She returned a short time later with Carter, armed with a handgun, and Hawkins.

Carter fired a shot into the floor and prosecutors said that Martin ran out of the apartment. Carter pistol-whipped the man, demanding money, drugs and guns, as Hawkins guarded the second person in the bedroom, prosecutors alleged.

Prosecutors said Carter moved the man into the bedroom with the second person, where Hawkins helped him search for a gun. As both men were leaving, a second shot was fired that pierced the door, striking the man in the hip.

The injured man was treated at Christ Medical Center for hip and bowel damage. Prosecutors said the man is wearing a colostomy bag.

All three suspects are each charged with two counts of home invasion while armed with a firearm, one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm, and two counts of armed robbery with a firearm.

Hearing that her daughter was facing a possible 15-year prison sentence, Martin’s mother wept.

Before Cook County Judge Peter Felice set bail, Martin’s public defender said that Martin had no prior criminal record and had a job interview lined up for Monday.

“By the state’s own facts, she ran out of the house,” the public defender said.

“She was with them,” Judge Felice said.

The judge set Martin’s bail at $500,000. Bail for Carter and Hawkins was set at $750,000.

The three are due back in court on July 2.