15-year-old charged with murder of Hanover Park teen

A Rolling Meadows teenager who told police he had been ordered to "get a rival gang member" is accused in the year-old murder of a Hanover Park teen, authorities said.

The 15-year-old, who isn't being named because he's a minor, appeared Monday at a detention hearing at the Cook County Juvenile Center in Chicago on first-degree murder and a variety of weapons charges.

Hanover Park police said the juvenile shot Jesus Sanchez, 16, twice around 9:30 p.m. May 23, 2009 on the 7100 block of Mulberry Ave. as he road his bike home from playing soccer.

Assistant State's Attorney Daryl Jones said the minor admitted to Hanover Park investigators that a gang enforcer told him to handle a mission and supplied him with a loaded .38-caliber revolver. The suspect saw Sanchez fall off his bike as he emptied his clip, Jones said.

The teen - handcuffed and dressed in a court-issued khaki jumpsuit - stood quietly in front of Judge Terrence Sharkey with his visibly upset mother and sister at his side. He's being detained at the Cook County Youth Home and was charged as a juvenile because he was only 14 years old at the time of the murder, Jones said.

Authorities said they discovered the teen's suspected involvement in the homicide after Streamwood police arrested him for an unrelated incident at 12:04 a.m. Sunday. Police responded to Oakwood Park on reports of loud arguments and possible drug activity. They captured the suspect after a short foot chase, recovering a loaded gun he tossed while running, Jones said.

Hanover Park investigators then interviewed him regarding Sanchez's murder and police said the teen implicated himself.

Judge Sharkey ruled there to be probable cause in both the murder and weapons cases. The family is in the process of hiring a private attorney, so the teen is due back in court Thursday, Assistant Public Defender Christopher Swanson said.

Jones said the minor has been in trouble with police several times before for cases including possession of cannabis, criminal trespassing and in October 2009, a gunshot wound to himself.

The slaying was the only remaining open case of the four homicides that occurred last spring in Hanover Park within a two-week period.

"I'm so relieved to know we found the person responsible, but I'm heartbroken to hear it was a 15-year-old kid," Hanover Park Mayor Rod Craig said. "We have to find a way to reach out to these young people."