Two teenagers are accused of fatally shooting an 86-year-old man on his front lawn before speeding away in his sport-utility vehicle in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
A boy, 15, was charged with murder, and a 16-year-old boy was charged with aggravated carjacking with a firearm and possession of a stolen car. The two were arrested Thursday at their school in the 2900 block of South Wabash Avenue.
“I hope justice is served, and I hope that this is going to prove to be an example for the rest of these kids who are out here and think that they are immune to the law because of their age,” Charles Hobson Jr., Charles Hobson Sr.’s son, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“They need to be accountable for what they do no matter what age they are,” he said.
Charles E. Hobson Sr. was outside his home in the 8100 block of South Throop Street about 10 a.m. Sept. 23 when the two people approached him and shot him in his leg, according to Chicago police reports.
Officers found Hobson unconscious lying on the grass and then spotted Hobson’s missing 2023 Lincoln Nautilus traveling through the alley behind his house, according to the reports.
Hobson died about an hour later.
“I feel sorry for these kids because they are the age that they are, but they did what they did, and they need to be prosecuted to the highest extent of the law,” Hobson Jr. said.
“I pray for their families because their families have been destroyed. I pray for my family because my family has been destroyed,” he added.
Hobson owned several businesses, including two shoe stores on 47th Street in the 1960s, according to his son.
Hobson Sr. always drove Lincoln vehicles and had recently traded his 30-year-old Lincoln Continental for a 2023 upgrade, his son said.
“He was a man everybody looked up to. He had words of encouragement for everybody he came in contact with,” Hobson Jr. said in a previous interview with the Sun-Times. “I’m going to miss his voice, his smile.”
The next court date for the case is Dec. 4 on what would’ve been Hobson Sr.’s 87th birthday, according to his son.
“We’re going to be [at the trial] on his birthday, awaiting justice, hopefully, being served,” Hobson Jr. said.
