Charges filed in triple homicide in Chicago

A 20-year-old man has been charged with murder in the assault rifle-slayings last week of three Chicago teenagers.

Martin Ybarra of Chicago was charged Thursday with three counts of first-degree murder, said Cook County state's attorney spokesman Andy Conklin.

Ybarra was scheduled to appear before a judge for a bond hearing on Friday, said state's attorney spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney, and he did not have a telephone listing.

Ybarra was arrested Tuesday after witnesses and community residents came forward, police said in a statement. Shells at the scene pointed to an assault rifle as the murder weapon, and an assault rifle has been recovered, police said.

Thirteen-year-old Johnny Edwards, 17-year-old Kendrick Pitts and 15-year-old Raheem Washington were gunned down last Friday. Edwards died of a gunshot wound to the back, while the others died of multiple gunshot wounds.

A jury acquitted Ybarra in a fatal 2005 shooting of a 19-year-old man that occurred within a block from the site of Friday's deaths, officials said.

An investigation into the teens' deaths is ongoing, police said.

The two older teens were freshmen at Bowen High School, while the youngest was in seventh grade at Arnold Mireles Academy.