Police Eye-Witness To Cold-Blooded Murder: Suspect Apprehended After Chase

By a strange coincidence the Chicago police, inadvertently, happened to be at the place of the crime, minutes before it was committed. Chicago police officers had been assigned to the Gresham District, in response to a call of an armed robbery. Suddenly, sounds of gunshots, emanating from 700 block of East 87th Place alerted them to the fact that there was something seriously wrong.

The officers rushed to the area, just in time to see a man fire three shots at another man on the ground. The officers attempted to arrest the shooter, but seeing the police, he fled the scene on foot, throwing his 9mm handgun on the ground.

The officers gave chase and eventually apprehended the suspect, who was later identified as Michael Jones. He is 30 years old and has since been charged with first-degree murder.

At the time of his arrest, Jones had $1500 in cash and a small bag of marijuana in his possession.

The victim was identified as James Reddick, 58. He had eight bullet wounds on his body, torso, head and arms. He died on the scene.

The suspect, Michael Jones and the victim Reddick lived in close proximity to one another and were neighbours. The suspect, police say, has a street gang affiliation, but no motive has yet been offered for the crime.

Cook County Criminal Court Judge Edward Harmening ordered that Michael Jones be held without bail, accused of fatally shooting his neighbour 58-year old James Reddick.

Reddick’s girlfriend Brenda Acklin said, she was playing solitaire on the second floor of the warehouse, when she heard the gunshots. She looked outside and saw a Chicago police car, with its siren blaring speeding across the street. Acklin rushed downstairs and discovered Reddick’s body lying on the driveway.

Brenda Acklin, said that he was a typical working man, who did work such as brick-laying and roofing on homes. “James did work all over Chicago,” she said. “He’d knock them (houses) down and build them up.”

With tears streaming down her face, she said, “he always looked out for the neighbourhood.”

A neighbour said, that he had counselled the ‘kind-hearted’ Reddick against providing shelter to teens seeking shelter in his warehouse, to avoid being killed by rival gangs. The teary-eyed neighbour said, he told him “that’s endangering you.”  Other neighbours confirmed that he was a good friend and had done odd jobs for them.

“He was a nice guy, I was surprised when I heard what happened,” Williams, for whom Reddick had done some plumbing work, said.