Concealed-carry holder, alleged attacker killed in gunfight; 3rd man charged in both deaths

A man on probation for a gun offense faces murder charges after he took part in a gun battle Sunday with a concealed carry license holder on the Far South Side, prosecutors said.

Marlow Rainey was ordered held without bail Tuesday at his initial hearing on the charges at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Rainey, 20, did not attend the hearing as he continued to recover from two gunshot wounds he suffered during the exchange of gunfire Sunday in the East Side neighborhood’s 10000 block of South Avenue M, according to a police testimony at the hearing.

Rainey has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of the concealed-carry holder, Elvis Garcia, 39, and a count of felony murder in the death of 17-year-old Michael Portis, who Cook County prosectors said also attacked Garcia but died in the battle.

Rainey also faces a count of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of a man who was standing near Garcia and was also wounded in the attack, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors did not say why Garcia and the man he was with were targeted by the shooters, and said investigators could not find anything linking the men.

About 3:45 p.m. that day, Rainey and Portis were driving a turquoise SUV when they made a U-turn at the end of the street and parked in the block, prosecutors said. Both got out of the SUV armed with 9-mm handguns and approached Garcia and his 24-year-old neighbor as they were outside talking and opened fire, prosecutors said.

The neighbor ran from the shooting, but was struck in the arm and fell to the sidewalk as Garcia ran into the street and was shot multiple times, prosecutors said.

After falling to the street, Garcia took out his own .40-caliber handgun and returned fire at the two men who attacked him, striking Rainey in the arm and lower back and fatally wounding Portis, who fell to the street, according to prosecutors.

Garcia was pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center and Portis was pronounced dead at the scene, according to prosecutors, who said police recovered 19 9-mm shell casings and 10 .40-caliber shell casings from the scene.

Rainey took off in the SUV, which pulled up eight minutes later at Trinity Hospital, where an unknown person took Rainey out of the SUV and placed him in a wheelchair, prosecutors said. Rainey was still wearing the same clothing, including distinctive yellow shoes, that he was seen wearing on footage from multiple surveillance cameras that captured the shooting.

Rainey is serving two years of probation after pleading guilty to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2018, according to court records. In that case, Rainey admitted to storing a loaded gun in a vehicle compartment that was found during a traffic stop earlier that year.

Judge Susanna Ortiz ordered Rainey held without bail and set his next court date for Jan. 14.