Boy, 17, charged in downtown Chicago shooting that wounded 7 teens after Christmas tree lighting

A 17-year-old boy was charged as an adult Thursday in a shooting that wounded seven teens under the marquee of the Chicago Theatre downtown right after the city's Christmas tree lighting ceremony in November.

Damaurion Cherry has been charged with seven counts of attempted murder, seven counts of aggravated battery, and seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm.

The downtown shooting happened around 9:50 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, in the 100 block of North State Street. Officers were on patrol and heard gunshots being fired into a large group, Chicago police said.

Officers found the seven victims, who were taken to both Stroger Hospital of Cook County and Lurie Children's Hospital, in fair to good condition following the shooting.

The victims were two girls, ages 13 and 14, and five boys, two of them 14, one 15, one 16, and one 17. Prosecutors said one 14-year-old was shot in the abdomen and another in the calf, while three teens were shot in the thighs, and the last two were shot in the hip and leg, respectively.

Officers and paramedics found the seven victims, who were taken to both Stroger Hospital of Cook County and Lurie Children's Hospital, in fair to good condition following the shooting. All were later released from the hospital.

Cook County prosecutors said, before the shooting, Cherry was seen on surveillance video with two friends at a Popeyes near his home in the Roseland-Pullman area on the South Side. He was seen wearing a Carhartt jacket over a Righteous brand hoodie with religious designs, black pants, and Nike Air Force 1s.

As the evening progressed, Cherry and his two friends made their way north to the Loop near the tree lighting ceremony in Millennium Park and the Chicago Theatre. Cherry had the same clothes on as he was wearing at the Popeyes, and was also seen wearing a face mask, which he used to cover his face except his eyes at times, prosecutors said.

One minute before the shooting, Cherry, the two friends he had been with since being spotted at the South Side Popeyes, and another male walked past the Chicago Theatre marquee and stopped at the south end of the theater, prosecutors said. With his face exposed, Cherry then looked down Benton Place, the alley that runs between the Chicago Theatre and the Joffrey Tower, where a large crowd of teens had gathered, prosecutors said.

A group of the teens then walked west on Benton Place toward State Street, where Cherry and the others in his group were standing. Cherry and his group then walked under the Chicago Theatre marquee, prosecutors said.

Cherry and his group began exchanging words with the group of teens — which included two of the eventual shooting victims, prosecutors said. All the teens' hands were visible on surveillance video, and none had weapons, prosecutors said.

Behind the first group of teens were a separate crowd of teenagers who were not involved in the argument, prosecutors said. Some people in this group also were later shot, prosecutors said.

During the argument, Cherry reached his right arm into the upper left side of his jacket and walked backward, prosecutors said. He turned and walked back and forth, took out a gun, and fired multiple rounds at the teens under the marquee, prosecutors said.

Cherry and his group then bolted from the scene, fleeing north on State Street to Lake Street, and then east on Lake Street to Wabash Avenue, as dozens of panicked people began running for their lives, prosecutors said.

Cherry adjusted his face mask to cover everything but his eyes, and he and his friends got on a bus and left, prosecutors said. They rode the bus for 12 whole miles going south.

Interior video from the bus showed Cherry and his two friends sitting down on the bus. One of Cherry's friends gave him a Sprayground brand backpack, in which he stashed away an unspecified item that had been in his pocket, prosecutors said.

Cherry also took off the Carhartt jacket. Cherry and his two friends got off the bus at 103rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, at which point he put the jacket back on, prosecutors said.

After getting off the bus, Cherry and his two friends went back to the Popeyes, which was closed. At that point, which police said was about 90 minutes after the downtown shooting, a 38-year-old man was coming home from work on the Metra train at 103rd Street and Dauphin Avenue, prosecutors said.

As the man walked past the Popeyes, Cherry followed him — still wearing the brown Carhartt jacket, white hoodie, and white shoes, prosecutors said.

Cherry and one of his friends then bumped into the man from behind, prosecutors said. The man turned around and found Cherry armed with a handgun, telling him not to move and to empty his pockets, prosecutors said.

The man put his personal effects on the ground, and Cherry took the man's phone and ran off, prosecutors said.

The man Cherry robbed went home and called police, providing a description of his robber that included the outfit, prosecutors. Officers in the area found Cherry and his two friends two blocks away, by which point Cherry was wearing the white hoodie with religious designs, but no brown jacket, prosecutors said.

Officers talked with Cherry and one of his friends, who were both unarmed by then, prosecutors said. The other friend had left.

Cherry and his friend denied any wrongdoing, and neither was arrested. But officers did take down the names of Cherry and his friend, prosecutors said.

The robbery victim did identify Cherry in a photo array, prosecutors said. Cherry is charged as a juvenile in that case.

Meanwhile, some of the victims of the downtown shooting were able to identify the shooter by his brown jacket, but others never saw him, prosecutors said.

With the shooting on video, Cherry also being seen on video leaving on a bus in a distinct outfit, and the armed robbery victim identifying Cherry, police named Cherry as the suspect in the downtown shooting, prosecutors said. Three staff members from Cherry's high school identified him and his two friends, and all recognized his brown jacket, prosecutors said.

Two police officers from the Calumet (5th) District who were familiar with Cherry also identified him through surveillance photos, prosecutors said.

One of those officers was a school resource officer at Cherry's high school, who had had several interactions with him, prosecutors said. In one such action in which Cherry was investigated for battery, he was wearing the same Carhartt jacket as he was in the shooting, prosecutors said.

Cherry was also seen wearing the white hoodie with religious designs in Instagram and TikTok postings, prosecutors said.

On the evening of Jan. 21, Cherry was shot in the chest, prosecutors said. The shooting remained under investigation as of Thursday.

Cherry was taken into police custody on Wednesday after being discharged from the hospital, prosecutors said. At the hospital, he was wearing a Sprayground backpack like the one he had on the bus after the shooting, prosecutors said.

After initially denying it, Cherry admitted to police that he had shot the teens in front of the Chicago Theatre, saying he was afraid he was going to be mugged, prosecutors said. But he also said he did not know if anyone in the group at which he shot had a weapon, and didn't see any weapons, prosecutors said.

Cherry is also on juvenile probation for robbery, prosecutors said.

Cook County Judge John Hock ordered that Cherry be detained until trial. 

"You fired multiple rounds into a defenseless crowd," the judge said, adding that it was clear that "any number of people could have been killed."

The judge also reprimanded Cherry for allegedly having committed an armed robbery after leaving the scene downtown without knowing if anyone had died in the shooting he is accused of perpetrating.

"The callousness involved is truly remarkable," Hock said.

A second shooting also happened downtown after the Christmas tree lighting on the night of Nov. 21. This shooting happened in the 100 Block of South Dearborn Street, where police found two victims with gunshot wounds.

Police said one of the victims, 14-year-old Armani Floyd, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Cherry is not charged in the shooting that killed Floyd, a case in which there have been no arrests.