A man gunned down his good friend’s 12-year-old brother last month in an Englewood bedroom because the boy teased him about his girlfriend, Cook County prosecutors said in court Wednesday.
Jaran Hughes, 21, allegedly pointed a gun at Marcel Wilson’s chest on Jan. 2 as he sat on a bed with his siblings and played video games at his home in the 5500 block of South Aberdeen Street.
Hughes was at the house because he had been kicked out of his girlfriend’s home earlier that day, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.
As Hughes talked with his girlfriend on FaceTime, Marcel began to tease him about his girlfriend, Murphy said. Hughes then allegedly pointed a semi-automatic handgun with an extended clip at the 12-year-old.
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Hughes was considered a family friend, and had been friends with one of Marcel’s older brothers since the third grade, Murphy said.
Marcel and his sister repeatedly asked Hughes to put the gun away, but Hughes “racked the slide” and “shot him right in the chest in front of the other family members,” Murphy said.
Marcel tried to run to his mother’s room, yelling “he shot me,” but collapsed in a hallway at the home, Murphy said. One of his older brothers put pressure on the wound.
Marcel was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, but later died.
Hughes ran from the house after the shooting and left behind a shell casing, one of his shoes and his jacket and phone, Murphy said.
Responding officers followed his snow tracks and found Hughes’ other shoe in an alley, Murphy said.
Detectives executed search warrants on his girlfriend’s Facebook accounts, which showed conversations where Hughes “lamented about how his life is over because of what happened and that he is going to be in jail,” Murphy said.
Hughes, of Englewood, was arrested Jan. 14 in Racine, Wisconsin, where he went to stay with cousins.
Hughes works at FedEx, has two children and lives with his mother and siblings, an assistant public defender said.
Judge Charles Beach said the shooting was clearly not accidental.
“You weren’t just playing with the gun in that room, you racked the sliding of that weapon,” Beach said.
Beach ordered him held without bail.
Marcel’s great-aunt Donna Gaither has said the boy often helped his neighbors with chores and had a sense of humor.
“He was young, but he was a good little helpful boy,” Gaither said shortly after the shooting. “He would help anyone clean up. Anything helpful, anything he could do. They paid him to clean up the yard, rake the yard, pick up the paper. He was really helpful to a lot of neighbors in the area.
“He liked to be a comedian. He loved to crack jokes, he loved to talk crazy,” she said.
Marcel grew up on the South Side and had moved around in the area recently with his mother and father, Donna Gaither said. She saw Marcel less often after he entered school.
Hughes is expected back in court Feb. 22.
