Rasheed Martin and his friends had allegedly been in shootouts with their rivals for several months before 7-year-old Amari Brown was killed over the July Fourth weekend.
The groups shot at each other on April 17 and May 23.
And hours before Amari was gunned down on a Humboldt Park sidewalk, the enemies fired at each other near Harding and Thomas, Cook County prosecutors said.
Amari was struck in the chest as he stood on the sidewalk in the 1100 block of North Harding after watching fireworks. His father, Antonio Brown, was the intended target, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has said.
Relatives of Amari Brown leave the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Wednesday. | Rummana Hussain/Sun-Times
Martin, who was extradited to Chicago from Wisconsin, was ordered held without bail Wednesday for allegedly killing Amari, wounding a woman and firing toward a man. A second offender is still at large, authorities said.
Witnesses saw 20-year-old Martin and his accomplice shoot at the people on the sidewalk, which included the victims and those they were feuding with, Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Cooper said.
A 27-year-old woman was also hit in the chest but survived. Martin also shot toward a man, who is in his 20s, Cooper said. That man, who escaped injury, was not Amari’s father, according to a police report.
Martin, his cohort and two of his other friends ran away after the shooting. But the witnesses identified Martin, of the 900 block of North Monticello, as one the shooters, Cooper said.
Martin was arrested July 22 at the Bartley Manor Complex in Superior, Wisconsin, according to a statement from the Douglas County sheriff’s office. Superior is near Duluth, Minnesota, and about 460 miles from Chicago.
Martin, who wore a white T-shirt and shorts in court Wednesday, allegedly admitted his role in the shootings in a videotaped statement to Chicago Police. He also implicated the co-offender, Cooper said.
