16-year-old boy charged with murder for July shooting

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the fatal shooting another teen inside a South Side Grand Boulevard neighborhood restaurant in July.

About 12:20 a.m. July 18, 16-year-old Kajaunce Morton was shot in the head inside Alice’s Bar-B-Que at 65 E. 43rd St., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The teen suspected in the shooting was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting, police said. Prosecutors identified him as 16-year-old Denzel Lewis.

Morton and his cousin were ordering food when Lewis and another male emerged from a nearby alley “with their hoodies tied about their heads” and entered the restaurant, according to court documents.

Morton tried to hide behind another customer when Lewis pointed a gun at him and fired multiple shots, striking him in the head and left hand, prosecutors said.

Morton, of the 600 block of East 37th Street, was taken in critical condition to Comer Children’s Hospital, and was pronounced dead there the next day at 7:10 p.m., authorities said.

Lewis was previously convicted and sentenced to five years probation for aggravated robbery in May 2014, according to court documents. He was ordered held without bond Friday.