Man charged in Douglass Park shooting that killed one is linked to prior self-defense claim in shooting of dogs
Over the weekend, prosecutors say, he shot at three unarmed teenagers in Douglass Park, killing a 15-year-old boy and seriously wounding a 14-year-old in a crowded park during a summer evening. More than two years earlier, he shot two dogs in Lakeview, killing one and sparking a response by a Chicago Police SWAT team, according to an attorney for the Douglass Park victims.
The tragic shooting was decried as 'senseless' by a relative of one of the boys, and prosecutors alleged that nothing backs up Leto's claim of self-defense. On the contrary, they said, his account is disputed by witnesses and surveillance video.
Leto, 55, was arrested over the weekend after the shooting early Saturday night near the Douglass Park pool. He was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and two other felonies, which Leto, a Chicago Park District lifeguard, claimed to police had been in self-defense after the boys attacked and followed him.
During his initial court appearance on Sunday, Leto, who had a valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card and Concealed Carry License, was ordered held pending trial.
Witnesses said the two boys approached the man as part of a group as he was fixing his bike near the park fieldhouse and that the man took a gun out of his backpack and fired two shots, according to a CPD report.
The older teen, identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office as 15-year-old Marjay Dotson, was shot in the lower right back and pronounced dead around 7:40 p.m., while the younger teen was shot in the neck and taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition, police said.
Asked about the case and the prior dog shooting, Leto's attorney, Jayne Ingles, said in a statement to the Tribune:
'Charles Leto is a Marine veteran who served his country. He was a dedicated advocate for preserving Douglass Pool as an important community resource. We are committed to ensuring that his actions are understood in full context and that his rights are protected as this matter proceeds.'
Two years earlier, Leto was involved in the dog shooting in the Lakeview neighborhood, according to Jeffrey Neslund, an attorney for the families of the two teens.
In February 2023, a woman was with her two unleashed dogs in the alley of the 1000 block of West Oakdale, authorities said at the time. When a man entered the alley, the dogs advanced on him 'in an aggressive manner.' He drew a gun and fired at both dogs, killing one of them.
A prolonged barricade situation followed as a CPD SWAT team responded to the scene. Leto was not cited or charged in that shooting.
This time, surveillance footage contradicted his self-defense claim, according to prosecutors.
'He claimed he was attacked by two juveniles and that he was being followed by two kids,' according to a proffer. 'He claimed that one juvenile lunged at him and he fired in self defense.'
But the investigation turned up different accounts, according to the proffer.
Around 7 p.m., the pool closed, and Leto went to retrieve his bike, according to the proffer. The bike had been moved from where it was parked near the pool and left up some stairs.
There is no information that indicates any of the teens had moved the bike, according to the proffer, but Leto nonetheless got into an argument about the bike with one of the teens.
Afterward, Leto walked his bike on the sidewalk, flipped it upside down and then began rummaging through his backpack, the proffer said.
Meanwhile, the three teens also walked down the sidewalk. Investigators interviewed witnesses, none of whom reported that the teens threatened Leto.
The boys were unarmed, according to the proffer.
As one of the teens walked past Leto along the sidewalk and as another reached toward the bike, the proffer alleged, Leto aimed a pistol and shot, hitting one of the teens in the lower back. The teen had been turning away from Leto, the proffer said.
Leto then turned and fired shots at the two other teens who were 'the grassy area at a distance from the defendant,' the proffer said. One of the teens was shot and the other put his hands up and walked backwards away from Leto. He was not struck.
Leto then called 911 and said he was 'attacked by children at the park,' the proffer said.
Inside Leto's backpack were two magazines, a Kevlar panel and a satellite phone, according to the proffer.
Over the weekend, the teen wounded in the Douglass Park shooting was identified by his family as Jeremy Herred, whose great-great uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter, called the gunfire 'senseless.'
'It's a sign of the times in which we live,' he said. 'And I'm praying that people will reverse their attitude as it pertains to conflict resolution and violence,' Hunter said Saturday.
Herred is a relative of Laquan McDonald, whose murder by Officer Jason Van Dyke in 2014 helped expose foundational problems with policing in Chicago. Herred remained hospitalized in critical condition, the family said.
'No weapon — the weapon at home in a lock box, secured — and my nephew would not be wounded and fighting for his life,' Hunter said. 'And Marjay, the other young man, would not be dead.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Veteran Chicago defense attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin dies at 78 after short illness
Longtime criminal defense attorney Thomas Anthony Durkin, known as a tireless advocate for his clients who enjoyed holding the government accountable for overstepping authority in everything from terrorism investigations to electronic surveillance, died Monday after a brief hospitalization. He was 78. A 1964 graduate of Chicago's Leo High School, Durkin was as South Side Irish as they come, a mustachioed, sometimes salty and always quick-witted litigator who loved going toe-to-toe in court with opposing counsel and judges alike. Durkin was hospitalized in June with an undisclosed illness that worsened quickly, according to friends who spoke to the Tribune. Relatives were not immediately available for comment Monday. A former federal prosecutor, Durkin represented an impressive roster of well-known clients over his five-decade legal career, from Guantanamo Bay detainees to Margarito Flores, the Chicago drug trafficker who along with his twin brother Peter helped build one of the first cases against Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. Durkin most recently was in the news for representing former Chicago Ald. Carrie Austin on corruption charges. In one of his last courtroom appearances in May, Durkin questioned a doctor over her opinion that Austin was not fit to stand trial — ultimately leading to the judge scuttling a trial planned for November. He also represented Thomas Cullen, a lobbyist and former political director for then-House Speaker Michael Madigan, who testified before a federal grand jury and also twice at trial as part of the sprawling corruption investigation that ultimately led to Madigan's conviction. But those who worked closely with Durkin said he toiled equally hard on cases that never made headlines. He looked out for people whether they had money or not, and lived for the moments in court when he could take on what he felt were overwrought arguments, several of his former colleagues said. 'Absolutely nothing got by him, said Chicago attorney Robert Rascia, who worked with Durkin on many cases over the past 46 years. 'When we would go to court, I always had this feeling it was going to go our way. It didn't always, of course. But I was never worried.' Rascia said Durkin had a 'huge impact' on lawyers across Chicago and beyond, mentoring them and offering counsel not just on legal matters, but on life itself. 'As a young lawyer, sometimes you're more interested in getting the case, in chasing the money,' Rascia said. 'But he was never cutting corners, never making a promise he couldn't keep. He didn't pump anybody's tires.' Josh Herman, another longtime colleague who partnered with Durkin on many big cases, told the Tribune Monday night that Durkin was 'a tremendous presence, whose loss will be felt by many.' 'In an old office, he had a bust of Clarence Darrow and a statue of Don Quixote, which perfectly captured his blend of fierce creativity as a lawyer and teacher,' Herman said. One of Durkin's longest running legal sagas was the terrorism case against Adel Daoud, a Hillside teenager who was arrested in 2012 after attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb outside a crowded downtown nightclub. After Durkin challenged the government's eavesdropping methods in the case, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals federal appeals court in Chicago in 2013 held a highly unusual closed-door session with government officials over whether Durkin should be allowed to view confidential surveillance documents. As famously acerbic appellate Judge Richard Posner ordered the stately courtroom cleared so the three-judge panel could hold a 'secret hearing,' Durkin rose dramatically to object but was kicked out of the room by deputy U.S. marshals. Never one to avoid controversy, Durkin stuck it to Posner outside the courtroom, telling reporters he was not notified in advance that there would be a secret hearing and called the move unprecedented. 'Not only do I not get to be there, but I didn't even get to object,' Durkin said. 'I had to object over the fact that I couldn't even make an objection.' According to a biography on his law firm's web site, Durkin received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1968 and later attended the University of San Francisco School of Law. After earning his law degree in 1973, Durkin served as a law clerk to the U.S. District Judge James B. Parsons in Chicago. He set up a private practice and tried a large number of jury cases as federal defender panel member before moving to the other side, serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago for six years. During his time as a prosecutor, Durkin led several cases 'involving systemic corruption in the Electrical Inspection Department of the City of Chicago,' as well as health care fraud and income tax evasion matters involving political corruption, the bio stated. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Durkin made a name for himself nationally by being one of the first to criticize the overreach of the War on Terror, particularly the Patriot Act, which allowed unprecedented surveillance on American citizens. In 2008, Durkin was selected as part of a joint effort by civil liberties advocates to provide civilian defense counsel to assist in the trial of five Guantanamo Bay detainees charged in the 9-11 attacks, according to his biography. Durkin represented Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a suburban Chicago teen charged with providing material support to ISIS by attempting to travel to Syria along with his two juvenile siblings, as well as Jared Chase, one of the so-called 'NATO 3' defendants accused of terrorism charges for planned activities during the NATO summit in Chicago in 2012. In his closing argument in that case, Durkin scoffed at the Cook County state's attorney's office for bringing terrorism charges, describing the three defendants as 'goofs' who 'can't even agree on what to have for breakfast.' 'If these people can be labeled terrorists, we're all in trouble,' he told jurors.
Chicago Tribune
16 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
ICE arrests increase across Chicago under Trump, many with no convictions, data shows
With the Trump administration pushing far more aggressive immigration enforcement across the country and in Chicago, a Tribune analysis of newly released data shows a significant increase in the number of immigrants detained in the Chicago area — particularly those with no known criminal background. The findings come from a Tribune analysis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data obtained and shared by the research group Deportation Data Project. The analysis shows that, as President Donald Trump's administration has pushed enforcement in sanctuary cities such as Chicago, ICE saw notable spikes in the number of people initially detained at two ICE processing centers in the area. The figures peaked at 88 bookings on an early June day that, at the time, drew attention for clashes between Chicago community members and federal immigration agents. Of the 88 booked that day, the latest analysis found, three-fourths had no criminal record logged by ICE. The surge in detentions — including immigrants with no known criminal record — mirrors broader trends across the country. The second Trump administration has increasingly focused on boosting the number of people arrested who lack legal status to be in the country, even if the efforts ensnared more people who didn't fit the traditional ICE focus on tracking down and deporting those who committed serious crimes. The analysis suggests that the efforts locally have done both — with ICE agents under the second Trump administration detaining double the rate of those convicted of violent felonies and sex crimes, while detaining nine times as many immigrants with no known criminal past. Local ICE officials have not released such detailed data on their enforcement efforts. When told about the Tribune's analysis and asked about its findings, a spokesman for ICE's local office did not immediately respond. The data used by the Tribune in its analysis was obtained by the law school of the University of California at Los Angeles, as part of a December 2024 lawsuit it filed to force ICE to release the data under the Freedom of Information Act. Court records show that ICE produced the raw data in batches this summer, and the law school shared the data with the Deportation Data Project, which posted the latest batch online Tuesday to share with reporters and researchers. (ICE refused earlier this year to directly provide the Tribune with similar raw data the newspaper had requested under the open records law.) The raw data has limitations. It does not identify detained people by name — unlike traditional jail logs or prison rosters, which by law typically must identify the people being held behind bars. And while the data lists details of each detention and some biographical information on who was detained, it does not list the cities, or even the counties, where people were arrested. That makes it impossible to tally the precise numbers of arrests in Chicago and the suburbs. The data, however, does log when people were booked into ICE's facilities in Broadview and Chicago, offering a proxy to gauge the number of people detained in the Chicago region, and the type of person being detained in a second Trump administration in a city that Trump's 'border czar,' Tom Homan, called 'ground zero' for enforcement. The Tribune analysis found that in Trump's first 150 days, ICE detained three times the number of immigrants convicted of crimes than in President Joe Biden's last 150 days in office. But, under Trump, ICE detained nine times as many immigrants without any known criminal past. A deeper look at ICE data finds that, among those deemed convicted of crimes, agents in Trump's first 150 days booked nearly double the number of people convicted of violent felony or sex crimes, compared with Biden's last 150 days. But the data also shows that, under Trump, a far higher proportion of the bookings for convicted immigrants were for those who'd committed lesser crimes, with a nearly fivefold uptick in drunken-driving or traffic offenses. That trend could be seen on ICE's busiest day for booking in the Chicago area — June 4. On that Wednesday, ICE data logged no known criminal convictions for three-fourths of the 88 people. Of the remaining 22, half had pending charges and half had convictions. Of the 11 with convictions, two had convictions for violent felony or sex crimes. Three had convictions for drug or property crimes. Three had convictions for drunken-driving or traffic offenses. Two had listed convictions illegally entering or reentering the country. And one had violated probation for an unspecified crime. On that day, ICE sent text messages requesting immigrants to report to a downtown office for check-ins, and advocates said about 20 of those immigrants never came out of the building. Over two dozen aldermen and community organizers gathered to protest outside before clashing with immigration agents who pulled those inside the building into unmarked white vans. One alderman reported that the agents shoved protesters and used batons like the 'Gestapo.' At the time, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement to the Tribune that everyone arrested had a deportation order by an immigration judge and 'had not complied with that order.' As of three weeks later — the most recent update to the ICE data — of the 88 detained, 25 had either been deported or left the country voluntarily, in a category deemed 'removals,' according to ICE data. That included four convicted of a crime: someone convicted of firing a weapon, another of shoplifting, one of drunken driving, and another for illegally reentering the country when previously deported, according to the ICE data analyzed by the Tribune. Six more with pending criminal charges were removed before they could be tried. And 15 people with no criminal background were removed. More broadly, of those booked into Chicago-area facilities, the data shows that nearly half of those removed during the second Trump administration had a criminal conviction, while about a third of those removed had no known criminal background. And while Trump, as a candidate, railed against the recent arrival of Venezuelan immigrants, and particularly claims of a violent Venezuelan street gang overrunning the country, the vast majority of Chicago-area removals under his second administration were of immigrants born in Mexico — 302 — compared with 136 born in Venezuela. And of the smaller group with violent felony or sex convictions, nearly all were born in Mexico. But the majority of people removed since inauguration day who had no criminal background were born in Venezuela, albeit with a significant number born in Mexico, too. Of those with no criminal record, the youngest removed was a boy born in 2021. The data doesn't specify if he was traveling with relatives but shows that the boy entered and exited the country with a married Venezuelan woman in her 30s and three other children — all of whom also had no known criminal record. All five entered the country in July 2023, were ordered to be deported in March 2024, and were detained somewhere in Illinois on June 11 and then sent to Venezuela five days later. The oldest was a married man born in Mexico in 1957, putting him in his late 60s. ICE records show he had been ordered to leave the country in 2009 and was arrested roughly 16 years later — on April 11 — by ICE. He was then shipped between three different facilities over five days — from Broadview to two jails in central Indiana before he was deported out of Texas. Little else is known about the man.
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
Jeep stolen from Chicago Police Department HQ parking lot
Chicago police late Sunday were looking for a crew of car thieves who stole a Jeep from the parking lot of Chicago Public Safety Headquarters. At 7:19 a.m., the thieves jumped the security gate at CPD headquarters, at 3510 S. Michigan Ave. in the Bronzeville neighborhood. Police said the thieves broke into and stole the black Jeep sport-utility vehicle, and then escaped by smashing through the security gate. According to unconfirmed police dispatch reports, officers did not realize the car was stolen from the lot for an hour. There was no word late Sunday on how the security lapse happened.
