2 boys charged in fatal robbery of 86-year-old Chicago man
CHICAGO - Two teenagers suspected in the shooting death of an 86-year-old man during a robbery on his front lawn in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood last month have been charged.
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. They were expected to appear in juvenile court Friday.
Charles 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 the leg, according to Chicago police reports.
Officers responding to a call of a person shot found Hobson Sr. lying unconscious on the grass and then spotted his missing 2023 Lincoln Nautilus SUV traveling through the alley behind his house, according to the reports. Hobson Sr. died about an hour later at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
86-year-old man slain outside South Side home ‘saw the good in everybody,’ son says
Charles Hobson Sr. loved singing in his church choir around Christmas — he did so every year for nearly seven decades.
Surveillance video allegedly showed the two teens — one armed — walking up to Hobson Sr. and shooting him in the leg, according to police reports. One of the assailants then picked something up from the ground before they both fled.
Blood was found on the grass in front of his home and inside his Nautilus.
Hobson Sr. drove Lincoln model vehicles for as long as his son could remember and had recently traded his 30-year-old Lincoln Continental for a 2023 upgrade, Charles Hobson Jr. said.
Hobson Sr. grew up in the Garfield Park neighborhood and was an entrepreneur who had various businesses, including two shoe stores on 47th Street in the 1960s, according to his son. He retired from entrepreneurship "about 10 to 15 years ago," his son said.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.