Page 14 - IAV Digital Magazine #532

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
No charges In Deadly Chicago Shootout Due To ‘Mutual Combat'
By Denette Wilford
Prosecutors in Illinois rejected murder and aggravated bat- tery charges against five sus- pects in a gang- related shooting in Chicago, claim- ing there wasn’t enough evidence.
Police are chalk- ing it up to “mutu- al combat.”
The shootout, which took place in the city’s Austin suburb Friday morning, began between two fac- tions of the Four Corner Hustlers gang, according to a law enforce- ment source and police report obtained by
the Chicago Sun- Times .
One shooter was left dead and two suspects were wounded in the shootout, which required the assistance of a
SWAT team.
The gunfight, which was caught on a police sur- veillance camera, ended when a police cruiser pulled up to the block.
More than 70 shell casings were found on the
street — though the amount was likely higher given it didn’t include shots fired from the other location.
Five men were taken into cus- tody, with the police insider detailing that law enforcement were going to seek
murder and aggravated bat- tery charges against them.
But by Sunday, they were all released – with- out charges.
“Mutual combat- ants was cited as the reason for the rejection,” read
the police report, according to the Sun-Times, adding that the suspects were not cooperating with investigators.
Mutual combat is a legal term defined as a “fight or struggle that two parties will- ingly engage in.”
The Cook County state’s attorney explained in a statement that prosecutors had “determined that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to approve felony charges,” adding that police offi- cials agreed with the decision.
A similar “mutual combat” incident reportedly hap- pened a week before in Schaumburg, Ill., where an 18- year-old man was killed in a stab- bing that was caught on cam-
era.
Manuel Porties Jr., died last Tuesday after he got into a fight with a 17-year- old, who punched and fatally stabbed the vic- tim.
“They’re saying that it’s mutual combat,” Porties Jr.’s father
told WGN . “How is it mutual com- bat when my son didn’t have any- thing to combat with — the only thing he had was his two hands?”
The man added: “He stood over my son and fin- ished him, and that’s not mur- der?”
Chicago’s West Side has seen an alarming increase in gun violence.
“It’s just like the Wild West,” a source told
the Sun-Times .
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