A Pullman man has been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two Chicago Public Schools students a year ago in the Loop.
Tommie Coleman, 22, was arrested Wednesday and is accused of being one of the people who fatally shot Robert Boston, 16, and Monterio Williams, 17, around 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2024. The shooting occurred in the first block of North Wabash Avenue, a couple blocks from Millennium Park.
The teens were students at Innovations High School, a charter school at 17 N. State St. that aims to re-enroll and re-engage children who may have dropped out or faced trouble in traditional schools.
Police said a dark-colored sedan and an SUV pulled up to a crowd, and masked gunmen got out and opened fire. Four of the attackers fled in a vehicle and two other people took off on foot.
The attackers allegedly confronted six students who were leaving Innovations.
Coleman is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count each of attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon by a convicted felon.
He is scheduled to appear in court Saturday.
The teens grew up together in Westhaven Park on the Near West Side, just like their mothers and grandmothers, their family said.
Darlene Doss, Boston’s grandmother, said grieving the boy’s death was compounded when his mother died of a heart attack nine months after the shooting.
“It’s really hard on us,” she told the Sun-Times Friday.
“He was a good kid,” Doss said of Boston. “All he wanted to do was play ball, play games and just be a kid. He was a sweet kid, he was a loving kid and he just got caught up in the crossfire that wasn’t meant for him.”
“He was just being a kid,” Doss added. “A 16-year-old being a 16-year-old.”
Monterio was killed two weeks before his 18th birthday, and he was on pace to graduate that following spring. He had plans to attend a trade school after graduation.
He, too, was described as a loving person.
“Very helpful, very funny, just, you know, all-around happy kid,” said Monterio’s mother, Blondean Gartley.
“He loved kids, kids loved him. He was into all types of sports. Very tall. He had an angelic smile,” Gartley said. “He was kinda quiet, just, you know, a very respectful kid. That was my love child.”
Gartley recalled the last text message her son sent to her. It was about a trade school off 39th Street that he was eager to enroll at.
“He wanted to do stuff with his hands, that’s what he was good at,” Gartley said. “He liked motorcycles, he was excited about working on cars and stuff.”
Gartley said she’s “grateful” that charges were filed against one of the alleged gunmen.
“It took a year — I know it’s hard on the police, but I just wish that it wouldn’t take this long because I feel that if justice would come down a lot sooner, it would deter other young guys from walking in those guys’ shoes,” she said.