Man accused of murdering rival during dice game in West Englewood

A man charged with murdering a rival after allegedly robbing the victim’s cousin in hopes of scoring proceeds from a dice game last year in West Englewood was ordered held without bail Tuesday.

Kenneth Tillman was hanging out with others on June 23, 2019 when someone came up to the group in the 7400 block of South Oakley Avenue to tell them that they had just lost a lot of money in a dice game down the street, Cook County prosecutors said.

Afterward, shortly before 5 a.m., Tillman and a witness walked to an apartment building in the 7300 block of South Oakley Avenue where the game was being played outside.

Tillman then approached and put his arm around a 31-year-old man who came out of the apartment building as he was leaving for work, prosecutors said.

The man, who recognized 27-year-old Tillman from the neighborhood, believed Tillman was asking him for money and told him he wouldn’t give him any, prosecutors said.

Cook County sheriff’s office

Tillman allegedly responded by pulling out a gun, pressing it into the man’s side and leading him to a gangway, where he made the man strip. Tillman took the man’s cash and belongings, but was angry that he didn’t have more money on him, prosecutors said.

Tillman and the witness he came with left the man in the gangway and walked back toward the dice game, prosecutors said.

While the robbery victim was putting his clothes back on, he heard his cousin, 28-year-old Dinesio Richardson, and Tillman arguing, prosecutors said. The robbery victim then heard several gunshots, prosecutors said.

Richardson, who had been playing dice minutes before, was found by emergency responders with gunshot wounds to his neck and back, prosecutors and Chicago police said. He later died at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

When the witness who had accompanied Tillman to the dice game was taken into custody on an unrelated charge in October 2019, he identified Tillman as Richardson’s shooter, prosecutors said.

The robbery victim also identified Tillman and confirmed to investigators that the witness had been with Tillman at the time of the robbery and shooting, prosecutors said.

Tillman had been out on bond for a drug case when he allegedly shot Richardson, court records show. That bond was revoked when Tillman picked up a separate gun charge last year. He was in custody at Cook County Jail when he was charged with robbery and Richardson’s murder earlier this week.

Tillman had been working as a general laborer before his arrest last year for violating conditions of bond, an assistant public defender said.

He is expected back in court Oct. 20.