Round Lake Park man gunned down man in Austin to avenge death of family friend: Prosecutors

A Round Lake Park man wanted revenge when he shot into a crowd of people in Austin over the summer and killed a man he believed was responsible for the death of a family friend, Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday.

When David Arrington was taken into custody for the Aug. 22 crime earlier this week, he allegedly told detectives that he believed Ronald Boyd killed “his auntie’s best friend” a few days earlier.

Prosecutors did not say in court whether Boyd, 26, was suspected in any shooting and did not provide additional information about Arrington’s family friend’s death.

“Unfortunately, murder as an act of revenge is a story that we hear too often here in the city of Chicago, driving our violence in many ways that we see on our streets,” Judge Charles Beach said before ordering Arrington, 25, held without bail.

Arrington snuck up on the victims after midnight that night and began shooting as the group stood on the corner of Chicago and Lorel avenues, striking Boyd and two other men, ages 26 and 36, prosecutors said. When Boyd fell to the ground, Arrington walked up to him and stood over his body, firing several more times, prosecutors said.

Boyd was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Chicago police

The black Jeep Arrington was seen in the night of the shooting was eventually located. Inside, detectives found several receipts, including one for a purchase at a Havoline Xpress Lube station in Arrington’s name, Pete’s Fresh Market and a Burberry store, prosecutors said.

In the week leading up to the deadly shooting, the Jeep’s owner purchased a pair of Burberry shoes and a hat — the two items of clothing Arrington was seen wearing on surveillance video footage at the time of the murder, prosecutors said.

Surveillance video from Pete’s Fresh Market also showed Arrington wearing the Burberry items on Aug. 19, prosecutors said.

Detectives sought records for Arrington’s cellphone, which showed his phone was in the area at the time of the shooting and also at the location where the Jeep was later found, prosecutors said. Arrington had also been pulled over in the SUV for driving without tail lights a month before, prosecutors said.

Beach Wednesday noted the “great detective work” it took in identifying Arrington as the alleged gunman.

Arrington had been recently working in a bakery, an assistant public defender said.

He is expected back in court Jan. 6.