Teen didn't know bicyclist he's charged with shooting, killing in Chicago's Grant Park, prosecutors say

A man who was shot and killed while riding a bicycle in Grant Park in downtown Chicago last week was targeted by a shooter he'd never met, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Eliel Argudo-Tenorio, 18, of Oak Park, appeared in court Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder in the shooting that killed Malik Jones, 27.

Police said the victim was riding a bike on the sidewalk on Jackson Drive between Columbus and DuSable Lake Shore drives around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, June 16, when Argudo-Tenorio shot him.

Jones was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

In court Tuesday, Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Sheri Bennett said in a proffer that Argudo-Tenorio had been in the passenger seat of a Mazda that was part of a six-car caravan that had found its way from the home of someone celebrating a birthday got Grant Park.

At 11:41 p.m. Monday, June 15, Argudo-Tenorio and the others in the group got out of the cars and began hanging out and drinking on the sidewalk, prosecutors said.

At 12:13 a.m. Tuesday, June 16, a police POD camera showed Jones, who did not know Argudo-Tenorio or anyone else in the group, riding a bicycle in DuSable Lake Shore Drive and turning west onto Jackson Drive on the north side of the street.

He kept riding west on Jackson Boulevard toward Argudo-Tenorio and the rest of the group from the caravan, prosecutors said.

At 12:15 a.m., Argudo-Tenorio is seen on POD camera getting a gun from a passenger window of one of the cars and immediately pointing it at Jones, prosecutors said. POD camera video showed Jones riding the bicycle away from Argudo-Tenorio and looking back toward him, prosecutors said.

Argudo-Tenorio then walked toward Jones and shot him in the right thigh, prosecutors said. Argudo-Tenorio then put the gun back in the passenger window in one of the cars, and then ran back to the Mazda and got in the back seat, prosecutors said.

Everyone else in the group also got back into the cars and fled the scene, prosecutors said.

A 911 call of shots fired came in, and Chicago police arrived on scene and saw Jones on the ground near where the cars from the caravan had been parked, prosecutors said. A single .45-caliber shell casing was recovered, while Jones died at the hospital.

A license plate reader captured the plate of the Mazda in which Argudo-Tenorio fled, and police found the car on Hamlin Avenue between Berteau and Cullom avenues in the Irving Park neighborhood, police said.

Three other people from the group that came to hang out in Grant Park were still in the car, and two of them identified Argudo-Tenorio as the one who had shot Jones, prosecutors said. The person whose birthday the group had been celebrating said Argudo-Tenorio had said, "I blew, I blew, I blew," and had said he had messed up when he got back to the car after the shooting, prosecutors said.

Argudo-Tenorio was not in the car with the group by then. They said they had dropped him off at his home in Oak Park.

Argudo-Tenorio was arrested while leaving his home at 6:36 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, prosecutors said.

He was ordered detained until trial on Friday of last week, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office.