Man charged with murder in Old Town shooting
Rotonio Esco | Chicago police
CHICAGO - A man is accused of fatally shooting his friend over a money dispute Wednesday in Old Town on the North Side.
Rotonio Esco, 28, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Courtney Horton, Chicago police said.
Horton, 41, was found with multiple gunshot wounds about 2:10 a.m. in the hallway of a building in the 1300 block of North Hudson Avenue, Chicago police said.
Courtney and Esco were friends, and the pair were seen leaving leaving the main security building of the Marshall Fried Green Apartments complex just before 2 a.m., according to a bond proffer prepared by Cook County prosecutors.
About 10 minutes later, they came back to the complex and Esco is allowed to enter because he lives in the building, prosecutors said. Security guards overheard Horton tell Esco that Esco owed him money.
A few minutes later, the security guards responded to shots fired in the building and found Horton with multiple gunshot wounds in the hallway after following a blood trail, prosecutors said.
Horton was shot in the thigh, abdomen, chest, wrist and bicep, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
When officers arrived they saw Esco walking briskly through a courtyard towards the exit of the apartment complex, prosecutors said. He had blood stains on his gray sweatpants.
Esco ran off and dropped his cell phone, ID, and ditched a gun as he fled, prosecutors said. He jumped a locked Iron fence around the complex and onto Cleveland Avenue.
While officers were searching for Esco, they heard glass break and saw a broken sliding glass door at a nearby apartment, prosecutors said. The officers went inside and a resident pointed them towards the 3rd floor.
Esco had broken into the apartment, gone to the roof and walked to a building next door via a walkway, prosecutors said. He opened an unlocked door and walked into the bedroom of a woman who was asleep inside. He left the bedroom and went back onto the roof where he was taken into custody.
A 9mm cartridge fell from Esco as he was being led to a squad car, and officers recovered $1,200 soaked in blood near his waistband, prosecutors said.
Esco was ordered held without bail at a hearing Friday and was due in court again July 1.