Man charged with murder for running down 13-month-old after fatal shooting

WRITTEN BY SUN-TIMES WIRE POSTED: 07/13/2015, 05:29AM


Antoine Watkins | Chicago Police
A man has been charged with murder after a 13-month-old boy was run down by a vehicle fleeing a deadly gang shooting Saturday afternoon in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side.

Antoine Watkins, 21, faces one count of murder with a strong probability of death or injury, a felony, according to a statement from Chicago Police.

He appeared in court Monday, where he was ordered held without bond and a woman yelled at him from the gallery: “You killed my baby!”
Watkins, of the 8100 block of South Bennett, was arrested in connection with the death of Dillan Harris after police saw him driving in a car matching the description of the vehicle that fatally struck the boy about 1:45 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Dillan’s mother had been standing on the sidewalk, waiting at a bus stop at 63rd and Ellis with her three kids — Dillan, who was in a stroller, and his two older sisters. On a warm day, they were headed for a family outing to the 63rd Street Beach.

That’s when the westbound car, which the Chicago Police Department said was fleeing a shooting in the 7700 block of South Kingston that claimed the life of 22-year-old Marvin “Capo” Carr, raced up.
“All of a sudden, they swerved and hit a pole and hit my baby,” said the mother, who declined to give her name.

She said she tried to push all of her kids out of the way but didn’t have enough time to get the 13-month-old clear of the danger.

Dillan was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:45 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Sunday ruled his death an accident.

Watkins sped away in the vehicle but was later taken into custody, police said. He was also charged with one misdemeanor count of fleeing or attempting to elude police and cited for failure to carry or display a driver’s license and operating a motor vehicle without insurance.

 http://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/7/...oting-woodlawn