Convicted murderer charged in West Englewood slaying

After Steven Cowan was shot several times while sitting in a blue truck parked in West Englewood on Friday morning, someone heard him say, “Joe shot me,” Cook County prosecutors said.

Joe is Joseph Bey, a previously convicted murderer whose associates had been in a “neighborhood” dispute with friends of Cowan, Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said.

Cowan, 29, was alone in the driver’s seat in the vehicle in the 6400 block of South Damen at 11:18 a.m. Friday when Bey ran from a nearby gangway and started firing into the truck, Santini said.

During the shooting, Bey’s gun jammed but he managed to unjam it and shoot at Cowan some more, Santini said.

Bey, 40, ran away into the same gangway he came from after wounding Cowan, Santini said.

Cowan suffered gunshot wounds in the back, chest and both arms. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died on Friday evening.

Judge Laura Sullivan ordered Bey, of the 7200 block of South Paulina, held without bail for Friday’s incident. He is charged with murder.

A witness who knows both men identified Bey as Cowan’s shooter and the other witnesses heard Cowan mention his killer’s name as he fought for his life, authorities said.

Bey was sentenced to 40 years in prison in the early 1990s for a gang-related murder in which he and two others chased down a rival and beat him to death, Santini said.

Cowan worked for a hair product manufacturer and lived with his common-law wife, according to a defense attorney.