A fifth teen has been charged in the beating death of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert, sources said tonight.

Lapoleon Colbert, 19, was charged today with first-degree murder in connection to the Sept. 24 death in front of a Roseland community center, according to Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Colbert, who another law enforcement source said was of the 300 block of West 111th Street, is expected to appear for a bond hearing Wednesday at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.

Footage of Albert’s death, captured on a camcorder, caused a firestorm after it was circulated over the Internet and to news outlets nationwide.

Daly said that Colbert’s image was captured on a videotape of the attack, but she could not say if he was seen on the widely publicized camcorder tape.

Albert’s death, part of a melee between neighborhood teens and those who lived in the Altgeld Gardens-area, prompted U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to visit ChicagoChicago reviews last October to talk about what the Obama administration is doing to combat youth violence.

Already charged with murder in Albert’s death are Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, Eric Carson, 16, and a 14-year-old boy charged as a juvenile.

– Staff report

Technorati Tags: Albert, Altgeld Gardens, Arne Duncan, attorney, Attorney General, Beating, camcorder, chicago, Colbert, connection, Cook County, cook county state, criminal courts, death, Derrion, education secretary, Eric Carson, Eric Holder, Eugene, Fenger, firestorm, first degree murder, front, High, Lapoleon, law enforcement source, melee, murder, Nbsp, neighborhood teens, News, Roseland, Sally, Sally Daly, school, Sept, shannon, spokeswoman, Staff Report, student, teen, today, Tonight, U.S., Updated, VIDEOTAPE, Youth Violence

Two 15-year-old males were charged as juveniles after they were involved in separate fights early Wednesday at the embattled Fenger High School, officials said.

ChicagoChicago reviews Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said the names of the teens were not available because of their age.They are expected to appear in Cook County Juvenile Court, Alfaro said.

The fights occurred at the beginning of the school day at the school.

Later in the day an 18-year-old female student was charged as an adult with misdemeanor aggravated assault after she threatened a female school worker at about 3:30 p.m., Alfaro said.

Catrice Parker of the 8100 block of South Paulina Avenue was charged with the misdemeanor for verbally assaulting the worker, Alfaro said.

One of the fights occurred at about 8:15 a.m., shortly after school started for the day. Police said the teen hit a 16-year-old female victim.

In addition, the other 15-year-old was charged as a juvenile with aggravated battery to a school employee, Alfaro said.

The student allegedly struck two security officers at the school who were attempting to break up a separate fight also occurring at about 8:15 a.m. in which that student was involved in, Alfaro said.

Security has been beefed up at the school, located at 11220 S. Wallace St., following the beating death in September of Derrion Albert, a Fenger student whose death was captured on video and spread virally over the Web.

But the extra security has struggled to prevent periodic outbreaks of violence in the hallways like the ones that occurred this morning.

“I think that even with the security, you’re still not going to be able to stop a kid from fighting another kid,” said Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond. “Tensions are high in schools all the time.”

Bond was unclear about the number of students involved in the altercation.

Chicago Fire Department officials said there were no transports to hospitals following the fight.

A federal judge on Tuesday approved a plan to allow 10 Fenger students who contended they do not feel safe there to transfer to one of four city schools.

The school has been the site of a long-standing conflict between students who live in the Roseland neighborhood surrounding the school and others bused in from the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex. That feud led to Albert’s death.

– Azam Ahmed and Carlos Sadovi

Click HERE for a WGN-TV report on this story.

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Christopher C. Cooper, middle, listens to parents regarding their Fenger High School students in the lobby of the Dirksen Federal Building this morning. (José M. Osorio / ChicagoChicago reviews Tribune)

A federal judge today instructed Chicago Public Schools to discuss transfer options with Fenger High School students who want to change schools because they feel unsafe following the beating death of a student.

Ten Fenger students filed a lawsuit against CPS last week alleging that their constitutional right to a public education is being denied because the district will not allow them to transfer.

“My clients want to go to school. They simply asked CPS to do everything reasonable to protect their safety,” said Christopher Cooper, the students’ attorney. “CPS made a promise to allow my clients to transfer and CPS has not followed through with that promise.”

At least 100 students have transferred from Fenger to other high schools since classes started, CPS lawyer Susan O’Keefe said. The school district has been “swift and targeted” in its response to Derrion Albert’s Sept. 24 beating death, she said.

Last month CPS offered Fenger students three ways to withdraw: a mid-year transfer to Carver Military or other area schools; transportation vouchers to attend other schools; or entry next fall into a charter high school near the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex.

“They don’t have a property right to attend any school they want to,” said O’Keefe, whose statement was greeted with jeers from more than 30 Fenger students who missed school to attend the hearing.

CPS officials offered to meet with students Monday to work out transfer arrangements.

“That’s a reasonable offer you shouldn’t pass up,” said U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman. “They have expressed a willingness to accommodate transfer requests. … CPS doesn’t want to wait for another Derrion Albert incident.”

Students who live in Altgeld have been assigned to Fenger since 2006 when Carver, their neighborhood high school, was turned into a selective enrollment military academy. There have been long-running tensions between Fenger students who live in Roseland, which surrounds the school and those who are bused from Altgeld.

Several Altgeld parents said they still weren’t satisfied with CPS’ offer. They want Carver to reopen as a neighborhood school

“Why would you transfer them from one hostile environment to another? They are going to go through the same thing at Julian and Corliss,” Cassandra White-Robinson said of neighboring high schools.

Gettleman urged the students’ lawyer to consider whether to seek a class action suit on behalf of all Fenger students. Gettleman ordered CPS to respond to the lawsuit in writing by Thursday and both parties to reconvene in court Nov. 23.

–Kristen Mack

Click HERE for a WGN-TV report on this story.

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A group of students at Fenger High School and their parents are suing the ChicagoChicago reviews Public Schools, saying security at the Roseland school is inadequate and students are being denied a public education.

The group claims the school system, since the beating death of Fenger student Derrion Albert, is not following through on promises to transfer students to other schools.

Watch the WGN-TV video HERE.

Technorati Tags: Albert, Beating, chicago, chicago public schools, Chicago Schools, death, Derrion, education, Fenger, Group, High, Nbsp, Parents, promises, public, public education, Roseland, roseland school, school, Schools, security, student, system, video, Watch, wgn tv

ChicagoChicago reviews Police Lt. Anthony Carothers (left), Deputy Chief, Detective Division, Al Wysinger (middle) and Supt. Jody Weis hold a news conference to discuss the charges against a youth being held in connection with the death of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis today praised witnesses who identified a 14-year-old boy as taking part in the infamous fatal beating of a Fenger High School student but at the same time chastised them for taking too long to come forward.

The teen was charged with murder after four eyewitnesses to the Sept. 24 melee said he hit Derrion Albert, 16, with a “roundhouse punch,” Cook County prosecutors said.

Eugene Bailey, 18, originally was charged with throwing that punch, but murder charges against him were dropped three weeks later.

“We started getting reports that (Bailey) was not involved in it,” Weis said Friday at a news conference announcing the charges against the 14-year-old. ” …We had numerous witnesses come forward that not only exonerated (Bailey) but also led us to be able to charge (the juvenile).”

Clearly frustrated at what he called a “code of silence,” Weis thanked the community for coming forward but quickly added: “I do wish they would have come forward sooner, but at the end of the day, justice will be served.”

Albert was attempting to stand up after he was struck with a wooden plank by another youth when the 14-year-old punched Albert “in the face, knocking him to the ground and knocking him unconscious for a brief period of time,” Assistant State’s  Attorney Thomas Bilyk said in Juvenile Court.

Albert was not exhibiting “any acts of aggression when the minor took a long-wielding punch,” Bilyk said. “He gave no care or concern to the life (he was) snuffing out.”

The boy was ordered held in custody on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of mob action by Juvenile Court Judge Colleen Sheehan.

The boy, who is not being identified by the Tribune because he is a minor, has no previous criminal history, prosecutors said. His mother took notes as the prosecutor laid out the charges, and his family and attorney declined to talk after the hearing.

Though police continue to look for three suspects, Weis said that the 14-year-old’s arrest means “the main offenders who struck the critical blows to Derrion Albert are now awaiting trial.”

Silvonus Shannon, 19; Eugene Riley, 18; and Eric Carson, 16;  were charged as adults and have been held without bail in Cook County Jail since September.

Prosecutors have not determined whether they will charge the juvenile as an adult, Bilyk said. They can use their discretion when deciding whether to charge 13- or 14-year-olds as adults.

The boy, who was a student at Fenger at the time of the beating, has been attending Thornridge High School in Dolton since the brawl, his attorney Richard Kloak said. Kloak asked that the juvenile be released on electronic monitoring so he can stay in school.

 ”The defendant is not running anywhere or going anywhere,” Kloak said.

The melee, which involved more than 50 teenagers, stemmed from a long-standing rivalry between Fenger students who live in an area known as “the Ville” near the school in Roseland and those who are bused in from the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex.

Fighting broke out as the Altgeld students walked to a bus stop near a Far South SideSouth Side reviews community center about half a mile away from Fenger.

Video footage of Albert’s beating circulated over the Web and transfixed viewers nationwide. The images also horrified Chicagoans, many of whom had become numb to the high rate of teen carnage.

Albert’s death prompted the White House to dispatch U.S. Attorney Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Chicago to talk about youth violence.

Tribune reporter Jeremy Gorner contributed to this report.

–Kristen Mack and Serena Maria Daniels

Click HERE for a WGN-TV video. 

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A 14-year-old boy was charged Thursday night with murder in connection to the fatal beating of Fenger High School student Derrion Albert.

ChicagoChicago reviews police said the teen, whose name was withheld, was cited in a juvenile delinquency petition with two counts of murder in the Sept. 24 beating outside the Agape Community Center, 342 W. 111th St.

The boy’s family declined to comment late Thursday.

The boy is expected to appear before a Juvenile Court judge Friday morning at about the same time Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis is schedule to hold a press conference at City Hall to discuss the case.

Video footage of Albert’s beating circulated over the Internet and to news outlets nationwide. His death prompted U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to visit Chicago in October to talk about what the Obama administration is doing to combat youth violence.

Authorities believe the 14-year-old boy was one of Albert’s attackers shown in the video beating the 16-year-old with his fist, a source told the Tribune. Another source said four witnesses identified the boy as one of Albert’s attackers.

The boy was a student at Fenger at the time of Albert’s death, sources said, which happened during a melee involving as many as 50 youths outside on Sept. 24.

One of the sources said the boy has since been expelled from the Far South SideSouth Side reviews high school, however, Chicago Public Schools officials could not immediately confirm that.

Already charged with murder in Albert’s death and being held without bail in Cook County Jail are Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, and Eric Carson, 16. Murder charges against a fourth teen, 18-year-old Eugene Bailey, have since been dropped.

–Jeremy Gorner and William Lee

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ChicagoChicago reviews Public Schools is seeking to place a new charter school near the Altgeld Gardens housing complex for sixth- to 12th-grade students, a move that could quell tension in a community that has been vocal about wanting a neighborhood option for its high school students.

The school is one of six the district is hoping to have approved by the board of education next month. Three schools are slated for opening in 2010, the others in 2011. Nearly all of the operators approved have extensive experience in Chicago.

But the school in Altgeld Gardens has a particular urgency after the fatal September beating of Derrion Albert, a Fenger High School student. The violence that killed Albert was part of a long-running feud between Fenger students from the Altgeld Gardens and those from the area near the school, known as the Ville.

Parents from Altgeld Gardens claim that the tension escalated a few years ago, when the school district turned their neighborhood high school, Carver, into a selective military academy. That meant high school students from Altgeld Gardens had to travel about five miles to Fenger, the next closest school.

Since Albert’s  killing, calls have grown louder for a neighborhood option in Altgeld Gardens, and those calls seem to have been inadvertently answered with the announcement of the charter school.

Sources said the charter will give preference to kids in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood and that talks are under way to have the school open for all six grades in its first year, even though its proposal called for opening with grades six to nine, then adding other grades later.

–Azam Ahmed

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Police responded to a call of a disturbance at Fenger High School this morning.

Police were called to the school, 11220 S. Wallace Ave., about 11:25 a.m. to respond to a disturbance in the lunchroom, police said.

There was no word on whether anyone was injured in the incident or whether arrests were made.

Fenger has been in the spotlight in recent weeks since the slaying of Derrion Albert, 16, during an after-school brawl on Sept. 24. A video of the beating was circulated widely on television and the Web, prompting a national outcry and visits by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder to address youth violence.

Source

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A teen charged in the fatal beating of Derrion Albert was released from custody today after Cook County prosecutors dropped murder charges against him in a highly unusual move.

Eugene Bailey, 17, was initially identified by witnesses, including adults, some of whom had watched the now-infamous videotape of the Sept. 24 brawl that showed Albert, 16, being punched and pummeled with large wooden planks, a law enforcement source said.

Bailey, the last of four teens to be charged, was accused by prosecutors at his first court appearance of delivering the “knockout” punch to Albert. He was ordered held without bail at the time.

The charges were leveled against him over consistent objections of his mother and family members who said Bailey was at his brother’s home and nowhere near the fight just blocks from Fenger High School.

“While the charge against Bailey was brought in good faith based on witness accounts and identifications, additional information has developed … that warranted the dismissal,” Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said in a written statement. “The murder of Derrion Albert remains under investigation.”

Bailey, who has been in custody for three weeks, walked out of the Cook County Jail late Monday afternoon to a swarm of reporters and cameras. His mother, who was trying to find a place to park when he emerged, finally tracked him down on a side street around the jail and presented him with a bunch of balloons. The teen, who was a friend of Albert’s, called the charge against him despicable and said he fell to his knees in prayer upon learning he would be released.

“Derrion was a good friend of mine,” Bailey said in a brief statement after emerging from the jail, and added that he was not on the scene when the fight had occurred.

“I just want to see my people,” Bailey said before running off on California Avenue toward 26th Street.

Bailey was greeted by a constant onslaught of visitors when he returned to his South SideSouth Side reviews home Monday night. The house was full of  balloons that read “When God closes one door, he opens a window.”

It wasn’t until Saturday after the fight that Bailey “found out my friend was dead and beat down,” he said of Albert.

Bailey said he is eager to go back to school and finish his senior year at Fenger, which he attended for the first time last year. His mother isn’t so sure she wants him to go back. “If it gets hectic, I will take him out,” Ava Greyer said.

After the court hearing, Greyer said: “I want to hear them apologize. They were quick to label him a murderer. I was steady telling them where my son was and that wasn’t my son on that tape.”

Two law enforcement sources said the case was reviewed by ChicagoChicago reviews police and the state’s attorney’s office when they found that other witness accounts were conflicting with the identification of Bailey. Among those who had helped identify Bailey were school personnel, a source said.

The investigation into the fatal brawl near Fenger has been ongoing because there are potentially three other suspects who are believed to have participated in the beating.

“The detectives were pretty relentless in trying to identify other people,” a source said. “And they uncovered other information.”

At a regularly scheduled court hearing Monday on the charges, Bailey was called forward as prosecutors quickly asked for charges against him to be dismissed.

Bailey’s mother said the three weeks of custody had changed her son’s life forever. Bailey had no previous criminal record, according to prosecutors.

“Can anyone imagine that kind of pain?” she said referring to his time in custody.

Barbara Bailey, Bailey’s grandmother, said she bears no malice against the state’s attorney’s office, noting her strong belief in God.

“I know prosecutors are not going to be too quick to believe what you say,” she said. “But they’ve got to do their job.”

The brawl that ended in Albert’s death was sparked by ongoing tensions among students who live in the neighborhood around the school and those from Altgeld Gardens, a public-housing development about five miles away.

Also Monday, Chicago Board of Education officials, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Mayor Richard Daley, met with parents from  Altgeld.

Kristen Schorsch contributed to this report.

–Kristen Mack and Annie Sweeney

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The Derrion Albert murder shoot the nation to its core, spotlighting a growing problem in the Chicago area.

Especially touched by the tragedy was David Banner who teamed up with producer, 9thWonder for the

release of the song “Something’s Wrong” in tribute to the young boy and others affected by the Windy

City’s violence. Now Banner’s enlisting the help of some of his Hip-Hop affiliates for the video shoot

which will also serve as an anti-violence rally.

Contributing to Banner and 9^th Wonder’s cause are Twista, Rhymefest, Naledge, Skooda Chose,

AK , Crucial Conflict, Malik Yusef and The Cool Kids. Also in attendance will be Tiffany from the

Bad Girls Club, family and friends of victims of violence, Chicago public school students, community

churches, politicians and local residents.

MTV is highlighting the event and sending Sway to cover the video shoot for an in depth documentary

on violence in the area.

The video shoot and rally takes place tomorrow at Chicago’s George’s Music Room

Source

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Many times we don’t want to listen to old heads when we know what they say is right. Bill Cosby has been holding a mirror to Black America over the last few years and rightfully so as teenage pregnancy, high school drop out rates and murders like that of Derrion Albert seem to become normal.

Read more…

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Many times we don’t want to listen to old heads when we know what they say is right. Bill CosbyBill Cosby – 49 reviews has been holding a mirror to Black America over the last few years and rightfully so as teenage pregnancy, high school drop out rates and murders like that of Derrion Albert seem to become normal.

Now stepping into the music genre again, the famed comedian and Black activist plans to rekindle Hip-Hop’s socially conscious flame on “Bill Cosby Presents the Cosnarati: State of Emergency,” an album of music with messages reflecting today’s most critical issues affecting young people.

Created to engage listeners and lead them to take action, the CD’s empowering and dialogue-provoking themes will be spread throughout the Internet via the comedian/actor/author’s extensive social media network and an interactive new web site, billcosby.com, designed to build a grassroots campaign of activist-led house parties and town halls.

Click here to read more.

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U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan this morning called for a national conversation on youth violence in the wake of the fatal beating death of a 16-year-old Fenger High School student.

Duncan, who previously served as chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools, also said he would make an emergency Department of Education grant to Fenger and its feeder schools to help restore the learning environment.

“We must engage directly with our children,” he said at an 11 a.m. news conference with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. “This is the time to look into the collective mirror.”

Read more…

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CHICAGO (AP) — Civil rights leaders, including NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous, are expected to attend the funeral of a 16-year-old Chicago teen whose beating death was captured on camera.

The funeral service for Derrion Albert will be held Saturday on Chicago’s South Side. He was fatally beaten by a group of teens outside a community center late last month.

Read more…

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Technorati Tags: Albert, Cease, Consuella, Derrion, Fire, Incident, WGCI, youtube

Chicago police lined up in a show of force outside Fenger High School this morning in the wake of the beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert last week during a melee nearby.

Students trickled into the school at staggered intervals through this morning. Most arrived on foot wearing their standard uniform of khaki pants and black shirts.

Police patrolled the area in squad cars and staged a visible presence at the school’s entrance.

“We want to provide reassurance to the public that there’s a police presence and they can feel safe in the neighborhood and kids can feel safe at school,” said Morgan Park District Commander Michael Kuemmeth.

Read more…

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Four people were being questioned in connection with the beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert during a melee Thursday outside a Far South Side community center, as an amateur video helped police identified several people who were on-scene at the time.

Meanwhile, a planned vigil for Derrion outside his school, Fenger High School, has been postponed to Monday at 1 p.m., Albert’s grandfather Joseph Walker said this morning.
Family members had planned to hold a vigil and march this afternoon but opted to reschedule at the request of the Chicago Public Schools, Walker said.

Read more…

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