A judge on Saturday denied bail for a teen accused of fatally shooting the son of a Chicago Police sergeant last year, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Anthony M. Moore, 18, of the 7900 block of South Sawyer, appeared in court Saturday.
He has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Arshell Dennis III, a journalism major at St. John’s University in New York. His father, Sgt. Arshell Dennis, once served with CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson as a patrol officer in the Gresham District.
Dennis, 19, was shot to death and a friend was wounded while they sat on the porch of his parents’ South Side home on Aug. 14 shortly before he was going to return to college for his junior year.
Moore also is charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Dennis’ 20-year-old friend, who was hit in the arm and chest.
Police said Dennis and his friend were victims of mistaken identity. Moore and fellow gang members drove up to Dennis’ family’s home in the 2900 block of West 82nd in Wrightwood in stolen vehicles, police said.
They fired at the porch, believing they were targeting rival gang members, police said. But Dennis and his friends were not associated with gangs.
Detectives said Moore made statements to other people admitting his role in the killing and bragging that he killed an opposing gang member. Police said they were able to track the stolen vehicles with surveillance videos. The videos and “phone-data evidence” helped link Moore to the crime, police said.
Moore already was in the Cook County Jail, charged with possession of a stolen vehicle for swiping a Toyota Camry in southwest suburban Justice. On Jan. 6, Moore was charged with violating electronic monitoring the month before, according to court documents. He has been arrested six times since turning 18 in November, police said.
He also was arrested 11 times as a juvenile, starting in 2014. Those cases included a robbery and an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a source said.
“It should come as no surprise to anyone that this is not his first go-around with the criminal justice system,” Johnson had said Friday.