Residents in the Portage Park neighborhood and the Chicago Police Department are pressuring the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to charge a teenager accused of fatally shooting a young man this month with murder.
Andrzej Wielgosz, 20, died Feb. 9 when the 16-year-old shot him in the neck after a snowball fight involving the teenager and three other young men turned ugly, authorities said.
The case has inflamed passions on the Northwest Side, as neighbors question whether authorities treated the teenager and the others allegedly involved–ages 13, 18 and 21–too gently.
Prosecutors charged the teenager with felony unlawful use of a weapon and mob action, which Juvenile Court Judge Charles May dismissed Feb. 11. The state’s attorney’s office plans to reinstate those charges, said spokesman John Gorman.
There also are plans to reinstate felony charges of mob action and criminal damage to property against the 13-year-old, Gorman said.
“There was no reason for him to get shot,” said Joe Anjelastri, a local resident and businessman. “When the police catch the people that committed the crime and then don’t charge them [with a more serious offense], it’s just quite an outrage.”
Police Department spokesman Pat Camden said the department “is continuing a vigorous campaign for murder charges.”
About 7 p.m. Feb. 9, a man was driving west on Belle Plaine Avenue near Lavergne Avenue with Wielgosz and a pregnant woman. They passed the young men, who threw snowballs, one of which hit the car, police said. At some point, police said, the 13-year-old threw a piece of concrete at the car.
Wielgosz, holding a steering-wheel locking device, and the driver, holding an ax, then confronted the two older men in the group, Nicholas Borias, 18, of the 4900 block of West Addison Street, and Nicholas Howard, 21, of the 4800 block of West Berteau Avenue, authorities said.
The 16-year-old then shot Wielgosz and ran, police said.
Murder charges aren’t appropriate under the law in this case, Gorman said, because “the 16-year-old said that he shot only when he thought his friends were about to be hit with these two deadly weapons.”
Borias and Howard were both charged with felony mob action and are scheduled to appear in court on March 15.
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