Third teen charged in brutal beating of man on CTA bus on Chicago's West Side
A third teen stood charged Tuesday morning in the brutal beating of a 62-year-old man on a CTA bus on Chicago's West Side last week.
Lyndale Roberts Jr., 18, of the North Austin neighborhood, was charged with one felony counts each of aggravated battery to a transit employee, aggravated battery to a person over 60, and aggravated battery with great bodily harm to a person over 60. Roberts was also charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle, obstruction identification, and possession of burglary tools.
Two other teens were charged earlier. A boy and a girl, both 15, were charged with the same felony counts of aggravated battery.
The girl was also charged with attempting to steal a vehicle on Dec. 21, in the 5600 block of West Bloomingdale Avenue, according to police.
The attack happened around 5:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16, on the northbound Chicago Transit Authority bus in the 700 block of South Cicero Avenue, near Flournoy Street. Police said it happened as the bus approached the Eisenhower Expressway from Roosevelt Road.
According to police, the 62-year-old victim was robbed, beaten and severely injured, resulting in extensive and ongoing hospitalization.
The victim, Larry Gilkey, spent days in a medically induced coma with severe bleeding in his brain. His family said he ended up in such a state only after he tried helping one of the teens who targeted him.
One of three teens asked for money to get on the bus, and just as Gilkey pulled out his wallet to help out, the other two jumped the 62-year-old.
"I feel like it was a setup, just the bait and switch to see if a person actually has some money on them," said Gilkey's nephew, Tavarris Harvey.
The teen either stomped Gilkey in the head or his head hit an object during the attack, resulting in Gilkey being taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in a coma for nearly a week. Gilkey could not speak as doctors tried to reduce internal bleeding in his head.