Man caught randomly firing AR-15 from car now faces murder charge: prosecutors

Last month, Isaiah White was arrested after he repeatedly fired an AR-15 out the window of an SUV as the car drove around Englewood.

Although no one was hurt, prosecutors said evidence found while investigating that case led to an even more serious charge: a murder White allegedly committed hours before the shooting spree.

White, 18, appeared for a bail hearing Friday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on the first-degree murder in the shooting of 21-year-old Steven Wilborn.

White showed little emotion during the hearing, except to roll his eyes during the hearing and later blow a kiss to his mother in the courtroom’s gallery as he was led away.

Prosecutors said on March 14, White and a witness had picked up Wilborn and gone for a drive in a red Honda CR-V. About 12:20 p.m., they pulled over in the 900 block of West 73rd Street and White allegedly pulled Wilborn out of the car and began going through his pockets.

White then took out a silver revolver and shot Wilborn in the head and left his body, prosecutors said. Wilborn was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital (officers initially believed he was a juvenile) where he was pronounced dead, according to Chicago police.

Prosecutors did not provide a motive for the shooting at the hearing.

Someone who heard the shot fired reported seeing a red Honda speeding away from the scene with a female driver, and White was later seen on surveillance video getting out of the red Honda at a nearby gas station, prosecutors said.

About 7 p.m. that night, White called the female witness seen driving the CR-V and told her to come pick him up, prosecutors said. White arrived at the SUV carrying an AR-15 rifle and they drove around the neighborhood while White fired the rifle from the Honda’s window.

No one was struck.

Officers responding to a call of shots fired spotted a red Honda CR-V in the area of 72nd Street and Carpenter Avenue that matched the description of the SUV involved in Wilborn’s shooting and stopped it, according to prosecutors.

Just before officers arrived, White had run into a nearby home and stashed the assault-style rifle under a bed and returned to the SUV, prosecutors said. Inside the CR-V, investigators found White’s phone and multiple shell casings from a rifle and later located the AR-15 inside the home.

Police POD cameras showed White getting picked up and carrying the AR-15 up by the red Honda, as well as running back into the house with it before officers arrived, prosecutors said. Investigators were also able to track White’s movements throughout the day via his cellphone, which allegedly matched with the time and location of the shooting, the stop at the gas station and the home he was seen going inside on POD cameras.

White was initially charged with possession of a rifle and reckless discharge of a firearm and ordered held on $50,000 bail, prosecutors said. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges, court records show.

In calls from Cook County Jail, White told the female witness that she shouldn’t talk to police, because “they knew everything that happened and he had to play stupid,” prosecutors said. He also told the witness to “bury that b—-,” which detectives believe is a reference to the revolver used in the killing.

Judge Sophia Atcherson ordered White held without bail. His next court date was set for May 23.