New details in charges against Chicago Near North Side mass shooting suspect Jaylun Sanders
CHICAGO - Cook County prosecutors released new information Sunday about charges against Jaylun Sanders, accused of a mass shooting on Chicago's Near North Side that left two dead and seven wounded, including the claim that Sanders admitted the crime and said he "had to do it."
Prosecutors said that about a half hour before the shooting on State near Chicago on Thursday, a fight occurred between a group of people including Sanders and another group. This fight was caught on surveillance video and witnessed by a Chicago police sergeant who arrived on scene and heard a gunshot.
The police sergeant said the groups took off, though a witness told the officer that someone had hidden a gun under a mailbox on Peterson Avenue, about a block away. That gun was recovered.
Prosecutors said that surveillance video from about 10:17 p.m. shows someone in a pink hat giving a gun to Sanders, who allegedly puts it in his waistband.
Later surveillance video allegedly shows Sanders and his group walking towards the CTA Red Line, while the group of victims are walking behind. When Sanders got to the CTA stairs, he allegedly turned around and fired 21 shots. Anthony Allen, 31, and Antonio Wade, 30, were killed.
Prosecutors said that Sanders and his friends took off down the escalator into the Red Line station, where Sanders allegedly handed the gun to codefendant Kameron Abram. Abram also gave Sanders his sweatshirt, prosecutors said.
They jumped onto the train tracks to get to the other side, and that's when Sanders girlfriend was injured as she fell on to the electrified third rail.
Police chased them and captured Sanders and Abram. The gun was found in the CTA tunnel.
Prosecutors said that Sanders gave a statement (recorded on video) in which he first denied being the shooter, but later admitted that he got the Glock from a cousin via Indiana, and that the auto switch can be bought for about $20 on the street.
Sanders allegedly told police that the other group shot first, but then said that he thought they were going to shoot and that he "had to do it."