Kenneth Williams, 20 and Michael Ward, 18
*There’s been movement in the case of Hadiya Pendleton.
According to the Associated Press, two gang members were charged with murder Monday in the death of the 15-year-old Chicago honor student who was shot just days after returning from Washington, where she performed during President Barack Obama’s inauguration festivities.
Michael Ward, 18, and Kenneth Williams, 20, were charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, Chicago police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton said.
The two young men were described by police as “persons of interest” when they were taken into custody early Sunday, a day after first lady Michelle Obama and other dignitaries attended the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton.
Pendleton, a popular high school majorette, was with a group of friends who took cover during a rainstorm under a canopy in a park about a mile from the Obama home on the city’s South Side. Police said a man hopped a fence, ran toward them and opened fire with a handgun. Pendleton was struck in the back and died later that day. Two others were injured.
Read/learn more at NewsOne.
R.I.P. Sweet angel you are now resting with the Father.
Hope they really got the right guys and not about to railroad someone because of Obama.
We don’t want another Balfour situation because it involved the murder of Jennifer Hudson’s relatives.
Glad to see that President Obama will be in Chicago in a few days to address the violence there.
Balfour was guilty Reds,so what are you saying?
He may have been guilty, just wasn’t proven to be.
It was all based on circumstantial evidence. There were no DNA or fingerprints tying Balfour to the crime. it all came down to him lying about his alibi.
Because a man provides a false alibi, doesn’t necessarily makes him guilty.
People do that all the time if they know they are a suspect and don’t have a strong alibi.
The phone records placing him close to the scene of the crime was also inconclusive.
That’s why the jurors had such hard time.
Jacinta Gholston, who was one of those not convinced of guilt, said there were many “holes” in the timeline that she wanted to see filled before she would vote to convict.
What do you mean he was guilty?
Co-sign Reds. I hope this was not something done to save face. We will see.
P.S. Reds, if you still have my e-mail address, e-mail me. I have a question to ask.
It was stated on the news that one of these guys admitted to the shooting, case of mistaken identity. Just randomly spreeing bullets is no mistake, this young lady lost her life because some stupid thug had something to prove. Hope justice is served, my condolence to Hadiya’s family and to the rest of the community who lost their love ones to gun violence.
We have lost 3 lives if you ask me. So sad!
The million dollar question is WHY? Sometimes I simply don’t understand how our men are so heartless. What really gives??? We are simply a lost people…
If they are guilty, throw the book at ‘em…the biggest you can find.
“Who put the gun in his hand.”
As I said, I hope they got the right guys. But it was also alleged that Balfour confessed to killing Hudson’s relatives.
People need to be wary of these confessions. Remember that under police coercion, people will confess to stuff they didn’t do.
We can’t forget the central park five. And even Chicago is notorious for this too.
The Chicago Police Department is now the subject of a federal Justice Department investigation into its interrogation practices in at least one case that dates back more than 25 years, 60 Minutes has learned. The case involves juveniles who were as young as 14 years old. Now, after serving lengthy jail times, they tell Byron Pitts they were picked up on the streets, isolated from their parents and in some cases held for days by the police, who they say forced false confessions from them under harsh interrogations.
This happens all too often in Chicago, says Peter Neufeld, the co-founder of the Innocence Project. “Quite simply, what Cooperstown is to baseball, Chicago is to false confessions. It is the Hall of Fame,” Neufeld says. “There are more juvenile confessions in Chicago than anyplace else in the United States…It’s not because the kids are different…it’s because of the way the police keep pounding and pounding and pounding away in those interrogation rooms,” he tells Pitts.
So true Reds! This case has been very controversial and I truly hope that they didn’t just chose two trouble makers just to save face.
*spraying bullets*
it is my hope that they have the right guys