MARKHAM | The first of eight men charged in a 2007 gang-related shooting that left a 16-year-old Calumet City girl dead has been convicted of murder.
A jury on Tuesday found Kevin Kerby, 23, of Calumet City, guilty of murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm in the Nov. 24, 2007, death of Melody Elias, and the shooting of a then-19-year-old man.
The seven other men charged in the case include Malaquies Guttierez, 19, Lewis Crenshaw, 20, and Oscar Chaves, 22, all of Calumet City; Esaias Frazier, 20, and Albert Redmond, 20, both of Dolton; Llewellyn Peed, 21, of Hammond; and Miguelangel Garcia, 29, of Harvey.
A couple of days before the Calumet City shooting, Kerby's car was set on fire outside of his Calumet City home, prosecutors said.
Kerby gathered fellow Latin King gang members and said he wanted to shoot Latin Dragons gang members, whom he held responsible, authorities said.
The night of the shooting, the group drove in four separate cars when one of the men saw a car thought to be driven by a 19-year-old male member of the Latin Dragons, authorities said.
With one of the four cars parked in a nearby alley as a lookout, the three others boxed in the 19-year-old driver, who was with Elias, a student at Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City, prosecutors said.
Kerby jumped out of the car and began shouting, "I'm gonna kill you ... dragon killer, dragon killer, (expletive)," prosecutors said.
Garcia got out of a car, pulled a semiautomatic pistol and shot several times at the passenger side of the victims' car, prosecutors said. As the driver managed to pull around the cars and flee, Garcia continued to shoot, knocking out the rear windshield, authorities said.
The driver, who investigators said may have been peripherally involved with gangs at some point, then drove Elias to St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers in Hammond, where she was pronounced dead.
The driver underwent surgery for gunshot wounds to both hands.
Kerby is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 26. The remaining defendants are scheduled to appear in court next month.
