Man charged with fatally shooting another man moments after lending him a phone

A man has been charged with fatally shooting another man moments after lending him a phone last March in front of an Englewood convenience store.

Marnell Briggs, 20, entered the corner store in the 6600 block of South Morgan Avenue on the afternoon of March 7, prosecutors said. Elijah Suggs entered the store shortly afterward.

Prosecutors say surveillance video from the store show Briggs and Suggs shaking hands, talking and sharing a vape pen. Briggs left the store and walked down a nearby alley, but then he returned to the front of the store, prosecutors said.

Video shows Briggs lending his phone to Suggs as they stood outside the store, officials said. After Suggs returned the phone, Briggs turned his back to him and pulled out a .45-caliber handgun with an extended magazine, prosecutors said.

Briggs turned around and opened fire, striking Suggs once in the armpit, prosecutors said. Suggs stumbled back into the store and got a firearm from his jacket, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Suggs didn’t reach for his gun until after he was shot and Briggs had fled. But a defense attorney said a witness saw Suggs holding the gun during the shooting and it fell out of his hand.

Suggs was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.

Several people identified Briggs in the video, including Suggs’ mother, who told detectives that Briggs had been in her home several times.

After the shooting, detectives learned of financial activity indicating Briggs was in Louisiana, and he was extradited to Chicago.

The defense attorney noted that Briggs didn’t have any prior arrests, while Suggs was on probation at the time he was shot.

Suggs wasn’t allowed to carry a weapon because of his probation, the defense attorney said, adding that Briggs had “every right to fear for his life, even given the fact that they were once friends.”

Briggs is a graduate of Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills and left college during his second semester when he ran out of money for tuition, officials said.

Briggs was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bail Friday. His next court date is Dec. 21.