Four Teens Charged with First Degree Murder for the Beating Death of Chicago Honors Student Derrion Albert

Four teenagers, Silvonus Shannon, 19; Eric Carson, 16; Eugene Bailey, 18, and Eugene Riley, 18, have been ordered held without bail for the vicious beating death of honors student Derrion Albert, 16. They have been charged with first degree murder and will be charged as adults. The four thugs allegedly kicked and punched Albert, who was an innocent bystander in a fight between two groups of students near Fenger High School, which is located on the South Side of Chicago. According to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Jodi Peterson, the assault was caught on video tape and was not gang-related, but apparently arose from a disagreement between students who live in Altgeld Gardens and an area known as "Ville." Sorry, but this was a brutal attack on an innocent bystander and these scumbags need to be severely punished for this barbaric attack.

According to theChicago Sun Times, earlier Thursday morning, the fight between the two factions led to a shooting outside the school, Peterson said. That led to a brawl near the school after classes finished shortly before 3 p.m., Peterson said.

Derrion had been standing near the fighting at 343 W. 111th Street when Carson and an unknown offender from the "Ville" approached him, Peterson said. Carson struck Derrion in the head with a long wooden railroad tie and the unknown offender punched him in the face, knocking Derrion unconscious, Peterson said. When Derrion gained consciousness, he moved a few feet away from the mob and tried getting up. But he was attacked again.

Soon, a group of five from the Altgeld Gardens faction descended upon Derrion. He was struck again with a railroad tied wielded by Riley as Shannon stomped on his head repeatedly, Peterson said. The video, shot by a witness, allegedly shows all three striking, punching and stomping Derrion in the head. (bold typeface denotes text quoted from the Chicago Sun Times)

This is one victim too many who has suffered at the hands of a bunch of thugs terrorizing their communities. This young man was a honors student. That says a lot about his character and his ambition. This one of the most heinous crimes I have ever seen in recent times. It is a shame that black-on-black crime continues to be an enormous and troubling problem in many inner cities across the country. It seems that many of the young black men in the inner cities are filled with such rage and have a propensity to violence. It is a sad commentary when police officers have to patrol inner city schools. This is a travesty and these four young thugs should never see the outside of any prison walls again.

Sorry, but instead of President Obama making a such a rousing pitch for Chicago to win the 2016 Summer Olympics and his decision to personally get involved by sending Michelle Obama to Copenhagen to join the city's delegation, it would have been much smarter to address the crimes being committed in the Windy City. Sorry, but they don't deserve the Olympics on that basis alone, in much the same way as South Africa doesn't deserve the World Cup for obvious reasons. According to CNN, the White House confirmed Monday that President Obama will fly on Thursday to Copenhagen, Denmark, where the International Olympic Committee will be reviewing bids from several countries on Friday. It will be the first time that an American president has lobbied the IOC in this manner. Mr. President, are you oblivious to the crime wave in your city?

UPDATE#1: Tamaray Shannon, Silvonus Shannon's mother, said there was a lot of tension at the school last week. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, she said her son had been chased out of school and stalked between classes by teens from the Ville. Ms. Shannon, according to media reports, has not viewed the tape, but readily states that she doesn't believe her son would have stomped on Albert's head. Here's the usual line we get from the families of the thugs: "Silvonus is not a bad kid," said Shannon, 40. "He was protecting himself. Silvonus is not what they are making him out to be." Okay Ms. Shannon, your son can't be such a good person if he's being charged with murder.