Police: 9-year-old shot, killed due to father’s gang ties

CHICAGO — A Chicago man was charged with first-degree murder Friday in the slaying of a 9-year-old boy who police say was lured from a playground and shot in the head because of his father’s gang ties.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the suspect, Corey Morgan, 27, is a gang member with an extensive criminal history. McCarthy said two other men also are suspected in the death of Tyshawn Lee, who was shot in an alley near his grandmother’s home Nov. 2.

Prosecutors allege Morgan was intent on settling the score after an October shooting killed his brother and injured his mother in a months-long gang feud. But his attorney, Jonathan Brayman, said Morgan “absolutely denies” being involved in the boy’s death. McCarthy said the three men all were members of the same gang.

“They’re going to be obliterated. That gang just signed its own death warrant,” he said at a news conference.

Tyshawn, a fourth-grader, was shot at close range in the head and back. McCarthy praised local residents, saying they overcame fears and risks of retaliation to come forward and offer tips to police.

The three men saw Tyshawn in a play lot where he had climbed onto the swings after setting his basketball down, prosecutors said. Investigators allege one man approached the boy, dribbled the basketball and handed it back to him before leading him into an alley while the other suspects followed in an SUV.

One of the men shot the boy multiple times. One bullet cut through the boy’s right thumb, suggesting he was holding his hands out to block the gunshots, according to an autopsy report.