Alleged Goonie faction gang member charged with 2016 Englewood killing

More than two years after 26-year-old David Easley was fatally shot in the Englewood neighborhood, the alleged gunman has been charged with pulling the trigger.

Christian Sivels, 19, faces a count of first-degree murder in the May 21, 2016 shooting, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. Sivels was denied bail on the charge during a hearing Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Easely, of Evergreen Park, was in the neighborhood delivering a pair of shoes to his daughter when he was shot about 7:40 p.m. in the 7000 block of South Carpenter, according to authorities.

Easley had been standing in the block and visiting with his daughter when a group of males walked by and flashed gang signs at him, prosecutors said. He sent his daughter away and soon after two males walked out of a nearby gangway with their heads covered.

One of the males fired twice, striking Easley once in the back, prosecutors said.

He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Just prior to the shooting, a witness said they saw Sivels, an alleged member of the Goonie faction of the Gangster Disciples, use a T-shirt to load a gun at a stash house associated with the gang near 68th and Bishop streets, prosecutors said. Another witness said that when Sivels returned later, he allegedly said, “I f—ed him up,” in reference to shooting Easley.

Easley made further admissions to being the gunman that were recorded as part of a federal investigation, prosecutors said. The gun that was used to shoot Easley was recovered three days about a block away after it was used in another shooting.

Prosecutors said they believe Easley was mistaken for a member of the Cash Money Boys gang, which was feuding with the Goonie Gang, when he was standing in the block with his daughter.

Sivels was charged Wednesday with the shooting while in detention at the Cook County Jail, where he was being held on unrelated charges.

His next court date was scheduled for Nov. 15.