Boy, 15, Found In Burning Car Had Been Shot At Another Location: CPD

CHICAGO — A teen found dead early Friday morning was shot and killed at another location before being discovered in the trunk of a burning car early Friday morning in Brighton Park, police said. The car had been reported stolen in Lansing.

Just after 2 a.m., Chicago firefighters and police responded to a burning car in an alley near 37th Street and Parnell Avenue. When firefighters extinguished the fire, the teen’s body was found in the trunk.

The 15-year-old boy’s name has not been released. The Cook County Medical Examiner said the teen had died of gunshot wounds in the head and neck. Crisis responder Andrew Holmes told Patch he talked to the teen’s mother, who said he was a freshman at Menta Academy in Chicago.

Holmes is hoping that digital evidence — doorbell cameras, police POD cameras and plate readers — will lead police to the teen’s killers. He said the area where the teen’s body was found is well-equipped with police and residential security cameras.

“There had to have been a trail car,” Holmes said. “If you did walk out of that area and ran into surveillance cameras, you would have been caught.”

“Hopefully in Lansing, any security cameras in that area will show images of someone taking the car and getting plate numbers,” he added.

Holmes called the people who killed the teen “vicious.” The teen’s mother and family members are mystified how he wound up in an unfamiliar area.

“She’s totally upset, holding on to his memory with a smile,” Holmes said. “She’s just trying to get a grip on how he wound up in the alley. He’s not from around there.”

Community activists are offering a $1,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the teen’s killer. Tips can be left anonymously at 800-U-TELL-US (800-883-5587). Callers will be given a code to claim the reward money if there is an arrest resulting in a successful conviction.

Parents of Menta Academy students are also being encouraged to ask their children if they know anything about the incident and to share any information with Area One detectives at 312-747-8382 or CPDTips.