Man allegedly killed former roommates after being booted from Calumet Heights apartment
Christopher Campbell | Chicago police mugshot
CALUMET HEIGHTS - A man was so angry that his former roommates kicked him out of their Calumet Heights basement apartment, he came back to the residence the next day and gunned the pair down, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.
The roommates had several complaints against 30-year-old Christopher Campbell, including the beeping sounds of the sensor on the Divvy bicycle he had left in the yard, Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Deboni said.
The roommates kicked Campbell out on June 14, but he returned the next morning. When he arrived at the two-story building, in the 2600 block of East 92nd Street, he was seen carrying a cooler with an object wrapped in fabric on the top, Deboni said.
Soon after, the homeowner, who is the mother of victim Robert Chitty, heard Campbell’s voice and arguing in the basement apartment followed by screaming and nine gunshots, Deboni said.
Chitty, 49, who had both legs amputated and used a wheelchair, was allegedly shot six times. He later died at an area hospital.
Michael Shelton, 61, was found lying face up on a bed with several gunshots wounds, Deboni said. He died in the basement apartment after calling someone to say he’d been shot.
Nearby surveillance video shows Campbell entering the home in a lime-green hoodie with the cooler, Deboni said. Twelve minutes later, the video allegedly shows Campbell walking to a church parking lot across the street, where he had parked a different car from the one he drove to the scene of the crime.
Another witness also said she spoke with Campbell as he held the cooler, shortly before he entered the home, Deboni said.
After the shooting, police searched the car — still in the church parking lot — and recovered the cooler, a .22 caliber Ruger long rifle with an extended clip, a green hoodie, Campbell’s previous arrest records and mail addressed to him, Deboni said. Testing allegedly shows that the Ruger fired the rounds used in the double murder.
Campbell was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
He allegedly told detectives he was kicked out of the apartment and was sleeping in the car he had left in the church parking lot.
Campbell, who grew up in suburban Matteson and had been living there with his aunt, attended Chicago Vocational Career Academy and took GED classes at Olive-Harvey College, according to his assistant public defender.
He previously served one-year in prison for a 2011 weapons conviction, and another year-long sentence for a 2010 conviction for communicating with a witness in a case, Deboni said.
Judge Charles Beach ordered Campbell held without bail.
Campbell is expected back in court on July 22.