Crime & Law
Man Charged in Fatal Chatham Shooting Following Fight
(WTTW News)
After coming upon the scene of a fistfight between a group of men in Chatham over the summer, the son of a retired Chicago Police Department officer allegedly approached the group, pulled out a firearm and fatally shot one of the participants.
Charleston Harris, 37, was ordered held without bail Wednesday following his arrest on a single count of first-degree murder stemming from the fatal July shooting of 44-year-old Theodore Smith.
According to Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy, Smith and another man had gotten into a fistfight in the 500 block of East 79th Street sometime before 8:15 p.m. July 24.
During a break in that fight, the other man briefly left the area, before he returned with multiple others and again began fighting Smith. As this was happening, Harris — who had arrived at the scene earlier and approached that group of men — allegedly approached Smith, pulled out a gun and shot him once in the chest.
He then walked back to his car with gun in hand and drove away, according to Murphy.
Chicago police recovered a single 9mm shell casing from the scene, Murphy said, and the shooting itself was captured on surveillance footage.
Three witnesses, including two of the men involved in the fight, identified Harris as the shooter, according to Murphy, who could not offer a motive for the shooting during Wednesday’s court hearing.
Harris, who lives in Oswego, Illinois, was not arrested until Monday. According to his public defender, Harris recently left a post office job to begin a career in trucking, and his father is a retired CPD officer.
He is due back in court for a hearing Dec. 28.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
