CHICAGO — A teen boy accused in the fatal shooting of a child on the Near West Side made his first court appearance on Saturday.
16-year-old Raysean Comer, who has been charged as an adult, is facing one felony count of first-degree murder, and one felony count of personally discharging a firearm that proximately caused the death of the victim.
The teen was ordered to stay in custody and the Judge said that it went without saying that he acted recklessly when he allegedly took the life of 7-year-old Jai’Mani Amir Rivera.
The young boy’s family members were in the courtroom on Saturday and said the arrest only brings a fraction of justice.
“My baby didn’t get to live his life. he was supposed to be a football player,” Jai’Mani’s aunt, Vanessa Rivera, said.
Family members of the victim said they were heartbroken after the tragedy.
“He was a very outgoing kid. Very loving, loved his parents to death,” Rivera said.
Rivera said the days that have passed without Jai’Mani have not been easy, but she is thankful that an arrest has been made in the case.
“God’s going to handle him how he wants. I believe in the Lord above,” Rivera said.
16-year-old Raysean Comer is accused of fatally shooting the 7-year-old and is now facing one felony count of first-degree murder, and one felony count of personally discharging a firearm that proximately caused the death of the victim.
The teen was in a Cook County criminal courtroom on Saturday for a hearing.
In court, prosecutors revealed that before Jai’Mani was fatally shot at the Oakley Square Apartments, where he lived with his family, he got a call from his mom to take a cooking pot to a neighbor.
“As the child walked outside of his building he was shot in the back. Building surveillance captured the victim walk back to his building with a blood spot forming on this t-shirt,” Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord Rodgers said.
When CPD officers found the boy with a gunshot wound to his chest, they attempted life-saving measures and rushed him to the hospital, but he did not survive.
Prosecutors said witnesses spotted the teen holding a rifle and firing multiple rounds toward the apartment complex. They went on to say that CPD officers later found 13 shell casings at the scene.
According to prosecutors, surveillance video and multiple witnesses helped identify the teen.
In court on Saturday, prosecutors described how an acquaintance of the teen was with him playing cards after the murder.
“During that card game another person who was playing told the defendant he will have nightmares about what he did. Referring to killing people,” Rodgers said. “In response, the defendant said ‘I didn’t mean to do that.’”
The defense argued that the teen shouldn’t be tried as an adult. They said he is going to be a high school senior in the fall, gets A’s and B’s, and is on the football team.
But in response, prosecutors said the teen has a record of escalating criminal behavior.
They revealed that the 16-year-old has two separate pending cases for allegedly stealing a vehicle and aggravated battery, which prosecutors say were committed in March.
He was placed on electronic monitoring, but prosecutors say the teen tampered with the monitor on June 7th.
“Those investigators tracked the device and found it cut and laying on train tracks with defendant nowhere in the area,” Rodgers said.
The judge said the teen had failed to comply with the basic conditions of release and had put the community in danger, resulting in the death of Jai’Mani, adding that his actions were “reckless and the epitome of dangerousness.”
The judge then ordered the 16-year-old to remain detained.
Family members said they will not get full justice until the person responsible serves time for the deadly shooting.
“This guy gets to live behind his cell breathing and eating while my baby is buried 6 feet deep under that’s not right. Stop the gun violence,” Rivera said.
Comer is due back in court on Tuesday, June 25.