'Angel Of Death' Charged With Murder In Pair Of 2015 Shootings

CHICAGO — A "lifelong criminal" known as the "Angel of Death" who is currently serving an 84-month federal prison sentence after fleeing Skokie police in 2016 was charged with two murders in connection with fatal shootings in the Rogers Park and West Ridge neighborhoods the year before, according to prosecutors.

Harvey Pitts, 25, was ordered held at Cook County Jail without bail at a hearing Friday after prosecutors had him extradited from a federal prison in Kentucky in order to charge him with the Feb. 25, 2015, killing of 23-year-old Albert Turnage and the Nov. 25, 2015, fatal shooting of Jontaye Walker.

Prosecutors said Pitts he would often hang out at an apartment on West Juneway Terrace, near the Evanston border, with fellow members of the L.O.C. City/Get Rich faction of the Gangster Disciples street gang.

On the morning Turnage was fatally shot, a witness said Pitts took the suspected murder weapon without permission and later returned smiling, according to prosecutors, saying he had just killed rival gang members. Pitts became known as the "Angel of Death," the witness said, "because every time he goes out someone dies."

Turnage was killed on his son's sixth birthday in the 1700 block of West Touhy Avenue, shortly after getting a job working at the Georgia Nut Company in Skokie, according to a DNAinfo report from the time. Pitts, accused of driving the getaway car in Turnage's killing, and a gunman who has not been named by authorities learned the victim was not a gang member after reading the report on their cellphones, prosecutors said. The witness said Pitts responded by asking, "Who cares?"

Walker was fatally shot on Thanksgiving Day 2015 in the 2200 West Thome Avenue after Pitts shot him a dozen times, prosecutors said. Pitts allegedly jumped out of a van and opened fire as Walker and his girlfriend fixed the license plate of her new car. According to prosecutors, Walker, a member of a rival gang in Rogers Park and Uptown called the Pooh Bear Gang, pushed his girlfriend out of the way and ran in the opposite direction. Multiple witnesses identified Pitts as the shooter in Walker's killing — one described it as retaliation for the murder of the older brother of an uncharged accomplice.

Pitts has been in custody since his April 6, 2016, arrest following a high-speed chase that began in Skokie and ended after he spun out on an expressway entrance ramp, according to his guilty plea, where he admitted being a felon in possession of a 9mm handgun with an extended magazine. He and his passenger, then 21-year-old Leroy Francis, fled the crash on foot but were soon captured nearby.

Pitts was initially charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, fleeing and eluding a peace officer, obstructing/resisting a peace officer, possession of cannabis and driving with a revoked driver's license in state court before federal prosecutors indicted him on firearms-related charges.

Prosecutors said he was a longtime member of the L.O.C. City branch of the Gangster Disciples with a "questionable employment history" and the gang's name tattooed on his hands. After pleading guilty to one count with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, Pitts was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison, followed by three years supervision. He had been due to be released from federal prison in March 2022, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Ahead of Pitts' March 2018 sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Matthews said he was among those contributing to the gun violence plaguing Chicago.

"[Pitts] is a lifelong criminal. [He] received his first criminal conviction at the age of 12 and was first convicted of a violent crime at age 14. In total, [Pitts] has been convicted of eleven different offenses despite only being 23 years old," Matthews argued in his sentencing memo. "In addition to those eleven convictions, [he] has been arrested at least an additional eighteen times."

According to court records, Pitts was convicted in August 2011 of possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated battery to police, possession of a firearm by a gang member and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He was subsequently convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon in April 2013, reckless conduct in September 2014 and resisting law enforcement in July 2015 — between time he allegedly took part in the fatal shootings of Turnage and Walker — following his April 2015 arrest in Evanston. Prosecutors said he also fled from police in that instance.

Pitts is due back in court at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on Dec. 14 to face the two new murder charges.

Earlier: Pair With Guns Charged After Fleeing Skokie Police