A man involved in the death of a 7-year-old child has been charged, police say

A Cook County judge on Thursday ordered a 19-year-old man accused of shooting a 7-year-old boy in his West Side home to be held without bail shortly after prosecutors dropped murder charges against a second young man , associated with death. .

Joseph Serrano, 19, of West Garfield Park, has been charged with first-degree murder. On October 26, the murder of Akeem Briscoe, whom the authorities called an unintended victim. The 16-year-old was charged Monday with first-degree murder, police said.

According to the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office, Akeem was shot in the abdomen around 8:15 p.m. while he was brushing his teeth before going to bed at his home in the 2600 block of West Potomac Avenue.

According to prosecutors, Serrano and two others, including a juvenile, targeted a car parked behind Akeem’s townhouse, which had four people inside. Those men were believed to be responsible for an earlier shooting involving a member of the Campbell Boys gang, and the new shooting was retaliation, Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Pecaro told the court.

Serrano and one of his accomplices allegedly fired 16 shots from separate .40-caliber handguns toward the vehicle, but did not hit its occupants, Peccaro said. One of the targets returned fire.

One of the bullets entered Akim’s home through a window and hit him in the back, authorities said.

The video captured the three suspects driving to the scene of the shooting and fleeing afterward, authorities said. Before the shooting, the dash cam captured the faces of the criminals, Peccaro said.

Afternoon briefing

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According to his private attorney, John McNamara, Serrano was a high school student who worked part-time and helped raise his six siblings after his mother died of cancer last year. The attorney asked the judge to deny the prosecutor’s request, noting that no one had identified Serrano as the gunman and that the case was largely circumstantial.

Toward the end of the 25-minute hearing, Judge Barbara Lynette Dawkins noted an “exhaustive” investigation by law enforcement, which used multiple surveillance cameras to track down the suspects and social media records obtained through a court order, in upholding the state’s request to dismiss pledge She also spoke about the authorities’ “voluminous circumstantial evidence” against Serrano.

Prior to Serrano’s hearing, prosecutors, without explanation, dropped a manslaughter charge against an 18-year-old man in connection with the same shooting. Felony charges were approved by Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan, court records show. On rare occasions, police officers have filed felony charges against a defendant without consulting the state attorney’s office’s felony division.

A spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department declined to comment on the dropped charges, referring the matter to the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office. A spokesman for the state attorney’s office was not immediately available.

Serrano is scheduled to return to court next Friday.

wlee@chicagotribune.com

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