Man charged with fatal Morgan Park shooting

He is accused of firing at least seven shots into the car, killing 27-year-old Montrell Lee, prosecutors said.

A man has been charged with murder for a shooting Aug. 13, 2020, in an alley in the 1000 block of West 108th Place.

A man has been charged with murder for a shooting Aug. 13, 2020, in an alley in the 1000 block of West 108th Place.

Sun-Times file photo

Bail was denied Friday for a man has been charged with shooting another man to death earlier this month in Morgan Park on the South Side.

Benjamin Reese, 27, is charged with first-degree murder for the Aug. 13 shooting of Montrell Lee, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Lee, 27, was shot multiple times about 11:35 p.m. while driving through an alley in the 1000 block of West 108th Place, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Prosecutors said Reese was in the alley talking with two other people when Lee drove up. Lee spoke to one of the other people before turning his attention to Reese, who told him to get out of there.

Lee then asked Reese how he had been and whether he had “been a good boy,” according to the state’s attorney’s office. Reese pulled out a gun and fired at least seven shots into the car.

Lee was hit in the chest and arm and drove off before crashing the car into a light pole in the 10800 block of South Morgan Street, prosecutors said.

He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died, authorities said. The medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide.

A witness identified Reese as the shooter and his cell phone records placed him in the area at the time of the shooting, prosecutors said.

Reese, who lives in Morgan Park, was ordered held without bail during a hearing Friday, according to the state’s attorney’s office. He is due back in court Sept. 23.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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