No bail for man charged in fatal Ravenswood shooting

A man charged with fatally shooting another man in the North Side Ravenswood neighborhood last weekend was ordered held without bail Friday.

Amin H. Smith, 21, is charged with first-degree murder for the shooting that killed Dushanti Hassell in an alley in the 2200 block of West Winnemac Avenue about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, authorities said previously.

According to prosecutors, Smith was at a friend’s apartment earlier that day and asked the friend to drive him to meet with Hassell. Smith’s mother ended up driving him to a Dunkin’ Donuts in the 6200 block of South Western, where he met with the victim.

Smith’s friend had followed in his own vehicle, and agreed to take Smith and Hassell to the alley on Winnemac, as directed by Smith, prosecutors said.

When they arrived, the friend stopped the car and got out to urinate, while Smith and Hassell walked to a nearby garage about 10 to 15 feet away, prosecutors said.

The friend heard them begin to fight, then saw them wrestling over a gun, prosecutors said. The witness saw Hassell on the ground, unarmed and saying, “please, please,” as Smith pointed a gun at the man’s head.

The friend ran back into the vehicle, then heard a single gunshot, prosecutors said. Smith then got back into the car and used a towel to wipe down himself and the gun.

Smith called his mother using the friend’s phone, and arranged for her to pick him up at a gas station near Lawrence and Ashland, prosecutors said.

Hassell, 21, of the 5700 block of North Kenmore Avenue, was shot in the head and died about three hours later at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Authorities later found the cellphones of both the victim and the defendant in the alley, prosecutors said. Another witness saw the vehicle leave the alley and gave the license plate number to police.

Smith, of the 7800 block of South Greenwood, was ordered held without bond at a hearing Friday before Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr., according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

He will next appear in court April 15, the state’s attorney’s office said.