A 17-year-old boy worked with a 14-year-old to commit a series of violent carjackings on the north side, to fire a shot on one set and kill another in Fuller Park, say officers of Justice.
The younger boy was charged at the end of last year, but the public details about the allegations were limited because he is being prosecuted in the juvenile court where the procedure is protected from the media.
But the 17-year-old Dajon Meeks is sued like an adult and public prosecutors have provided extensive, shocking details about the crimes during his recent hearing.
In the hours prior to and after the murder, Meeks and the boy reportedly performed a series of armed hijackings in Lakeview, North Center and Lincoln Park.
Video from a cha building where both boys lived showed the 14-year-old climbing from an apartment window around 4:30 am on July 14, 2024. minutes later Meeks was shown on video that ran along the walkway to a stolen Kia Optima, according to officers of justice.
About an hour later the boys jumped from the Kia in the 1900 block of West Irving Park Road and brought a woman who drove to work with three passengers, said civil servants. Meeks is said to jump into the driver’s seat of her Mazda, while the 14-year-old drove away with the Kia.
Minutes later they left the Kia in Berteau’s 1900 block.
An hour later, around 6.40 am, the couple carjacked a man in the driveway to Lake Shore Drive in Belmont as he rode his wife to work in the Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said prosecutors. Video showed the stolen BMW and Mazda who traveled together to Loomis and Van Buren.
A third person joined them at the intersection and they recorded an Instagram video that is said to have shown the trio outside the BMW, with gestures and a gun.
Around 7:51 the 25-year-old Michal Ciskal, a Polish immigrant who was on his way to work, stopped at a gas station in the 5400 block of South Wells. Video showed Meeks and the 14-year-old pulled in front of Ciskal’s car and confronted him as he walked to the gas station, said prosecutors.
The 14-year-old aimed a gun on Ciskal, who lifted his right hand in front of his face. The boy shot one shot and sent a bullet through Ciskal’s hand and in his chest, according to the allegations.
Civil servants said Meeks took Ciskal’s car keys and opened his driver’s door, but he noticed that the car was a manual transmission, so he returned to the BMW and fled with the 14-year-old.
A passer -by tried CPR, but Ciskal died of his injuries. One of his colleagues who noticed his car surrounded by the crime -tape at the gas station and helped the police to identify him.
Researchers discovered that the hijacked BMW was abandoned in the 1400 block of West Lexington, just over half a mile from where the boys lived.
The boys were not ready, according to public prosecutors.
Allegedly they drove around 10 a.m. to Lincoln Park in the hijacked Mazda and tried a few a few to carjack while they drove home from the church in the 900 block of West Wrightwood. The woman had recently undergone an ankle operation and she was not sure if she could get out of the car, because the teenagers ordered them to be in the judiciary, said public prosecutors.
While the man tried to escape through the street, the 14-year-old shot a shot in their front passenger panel.
Meeks and the boy returned to the Mazda and fled, said civil servants.
Less than an hour later, the Chicago police responded to a traffic scrench near the boys’ apartment complex. They found the hijacked Mazda wrapped around a light pole. Video showed three people who ran out of the wreck said prosecutors.
Two days later, the police carried out a house search order in his house. Allegedly they have found a gun in a bedroom sideboard together with distinctive clothing that was worn by one of the perpetrators in Ciskal’s murder scene.
Lab tests found a “high correlation” between that gun and the weapon used to kill Ciskal and shoot at the couple in Lincoln Park, according to public prosecutors. They said it also had a rubber band around the handle, just like the gun that can be seen in the Instagram video.
Public Prosecutors also pointed to DNA tests that reportedly found genetic material that was connected to Meeks in vehicles involved in the Crime Spree.
He is accused as an adult with three counts of murder. It is unclear whether he will be confronted with charges for extra crimes in the juvenile court. However, public prosecutors said that he is currently for carjacking at Juvenile probation and also has a stolen motor vehicle case in the juvenile court.
Judge Shauna Boliker held him in anticipation of the trial.
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