CHICAGO (AP) - An 18-year-old who police say is a gang member was arrested Friday in the shooting death of a Chicago police officer’s teenage son.
Investigators believe 19-year-old Arshell Dennis III was killed because he was mistaken for a member of a rival gang. Anthony Moore is charged with first-degree murder in the August killing.
Dennis was shot in the chest as he visited with friends on the porch of his parents’ Chicago home just hours before he was to return to college in New York. Moore, of Chicago, also is charged with attempted murder for shooting another man who was on the porch in the arm.
At a news conference Friday that was attended by Dennis’ father, police said Moore was arrested at the Cook County Jail while there on another charge. Moore has been arrested six times since his birthday in November for charges including possession of a stolen vehicle, police said.
Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan said Moore was in one of two stolen cars the night of Aug. 14 when he and others spotted Dennis and his friends talking on the porch of his parents’ home on the city’s southwest side. Moore and his group climbed out of the cars, started shooting and then fled in the vehicles, Deenihan said.
Investigators have linked Moore to the shooting using evidence from phones and surveillance cameras and statements from people who know him, Deenihan said.
He said detectives believe Moore was the gunman responsible for the killing, but are looking for the others who were with him during the shooting.
“He was bragging to friends (that) he killed an opposing gang member,” said Deenihan, adding that neither Dennis nor his friends had any gang ties.
It was not immediately known whether Moore has an attorney to comment on his behalf. He is scheduled to appear in court Saturday.
Deenihan said Moore has not cooperated with detectives and that police have not found the gun used in the killing.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson briefly appeared to struggle with his emotions as he stood a few feet from Sgt. Arshell Dennis Jr., the victim’s father.
“Every officer in this department took his murder personally and we vowed not to stop until we found his killer,” said Johnson, who has known the elder Dennis for years and worked with him on patrol in the past.
“Thank you, guys,” Sgt. Dennis said quietly as he looked down the line of detectives and others who took part in the investigation.
His son was killed in the middle of what became the deadliest month in Chicago in two decades, with 91 homicides. The city had a total of 762 homicides in 2016 - more than New York and Los Angeles combined.
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