Man charged with murder in fatal December shooting in East Garfield Park

A man is accused of fatally shooting another man last December in East Garfield Park.

Rayvon Lofton, 19, is the second man charged with murder in the Dec. 22 slaying of 20-year-old Jim Courtney-Clarks, Chicago police said.

Courtney-Clarks was in the 700 block of North Ridgeway Avenue about 12:45 p.m. that day when he was shot in the chest, police said. He died at Stroger Hospital.

Lofton was arrested Sept. 9 in the Loop after allegedly being identified as one of the attackers, police said.

He was denied ball during his initial court hearing Saturday, records show. His next court date was set for Sept. 20.

Chicago Police Department

In June, another man also was charged in the case.

Jerryyon Stevens is accused of driving a stolen Honda to the scene of the shooting. There, according to prosecutors, two members of the Traveling Vice Lords got out of the Honda and opened fire at Courtney-Clarks and another man as they walked on the sidewalk.

Stevens, 21, was once featured in a Chicago Magazine profile when he was a teenager. He faces a count of first-degree murder for the apparent gang-related attack on Courtney-Clarks.

Investigators used surveillance camera footage and cellphone records to track Stevens and the two gunmen, according to Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Kevin DeBoni.

Stevens’ face and distinctive clothing was recorded by a camera at a convenience store where Stevens met up with the gunmen before the shooting, DeBoni said at a court hearing in June.

Chicago police

Stevens was also identified by a Chicago police officer who viewed the surveillance footage and recognized him, DeBoni said.

Stevens was the subject of a lengthy 2016 profile story in Chicago Magazine that detailed his dreams and the hardships he faced growing up on the West Side.

He was working at a family business and for a moving company to support his young daughter before his arrest, an assistant public defender said at that June hearing.