New details revealed in fatal shooting of 7-year-old boy on Near West Side
CHICAGO - New details were released after the teenager accused of fatally shooting a 7-year-old boy attended his detention hearing Saturday.
Raysean Comer was arrested Thursday at his home in the 1800 block of W. Monroe, less than 48 hours after a child was struck by a stray bullet outside his home on the Near West Side.
Jai'mani Amir Rivera was shot and killed around 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Oakland Square apartments in the 2200 block of West Jackson Boulevard.
Rivera lived with his family at 2325 W. Jackson. On the afternoon of the shooting, Rivera's mom called him and asked him to take a cooking pot to the home of a neighbor who lived in the building next door, according to court documents.
Surveillance video captured the victim walking through the lobby, holding a pot. When Rivera walked outside he was shot in the back.
Prosecutors said building surveillance then captured the boy walking back into his building with a blood spot forming on his white t-shirt. A witness in the lobby can be seen going to help the boy as he slowly loses consciousness and falls to the floor.
Chicago police responded to the apartment for a report of a child shot. The victim was found unresponsive in the apartment lobby. Officers began life-saving aid and brought the boy to an area hospital in their squad car, according to court documents.
Around the time of the shooting, Chicago police received at least two anonymous calls about the incident. One caller said she was driving her car in the immediate area when she heard two gunshots. The witness then saw a gunman on Oakley Street with a rifle firing additional rounds to the west towards the Oakland Square apartment complex, prosecutors said.
Police said Jai'mani was not the target of the shooting and the motive is still unknown.
The witness told police that the gunman fled southbound toward Van Buren after the shooting. She said the shooter wore a mask covering his mouth and nose.
Police got a separate, anonymous tip that identified the offender involved in the shooting as Comer and indicated that he was hanging out in the area of 2135 W. Jackson.
Prosecutors said on the scene, police recovered approximately 13, .223 caliber shell casings in the back parking lot of Crane Medical Prep High School located at 355 S. Oakley St. The parking lot is approximately 300 feet away and a straight line of sight to where the victim was shot.
Surveillance video allegedly shows Comer without a mask near Crane High School removing a rifle from his pants and firing multiple times toward the victim's apartment complex at 3:00 p.m.
Prosecutors said a Chicago Police officer, who has met Comer in person before, identified him from surveillance footage of the shooting. Two other officers recognized Comer from an arrest on March 21, 2023, for Criminal Trespass to Vehicle. Both officers have had multiple conversations with the teen on prior occasions.
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Several acquaintances of the offender identified him from screenshots of the surveillance video.
Through the offender's Chicago Police Department Juvenile History Report, police found his address and reviewed surveillance video from outside his home. The teen was taken into custody on Thursday, June 20.
He was charged with one felony count of first-degree murder and one felony count of first-degree murder - personally discharge a firearm that caused the death of victim.
Comer's next court appearance was scheduled for June 25.
