2 teenage would-be robbers shot to death in liquor store

Two would-be robbers who were fatally shot at a liquor store in the Gresham neighborhood Saturday night have been identified as a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy, authorities said.
Keshawn Marzette, 15, of the 8300 block of South Throop Street, and William Larson, 17, of the same address, were pronounced dead on the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Autopsies Sunday determined both died of multiple gunshot wounds and their deaths were classified as homicides, the office said.
The two were shot to death by a store employee about 8:30 p.m. when they tried to rob Z&S Food & Liquor in the 1300 block of West 87th Street, sources said.

Citing preliminary information, authorities said two people walked into the store, and one of them hopped over the counter.
That person hit the clerk standing behind the counter, while the other remained in front of the counter, authorities said.
Meanwhile, a relative of the store owner heard a commotion upstairs and saw the robbery suspects from a stairwell, authorities said.
He pulled out a gun and opened fire on the two, killing them, authorities said. At least one of them was armed with a gun.

Family members at the scene identified one of the suspects as Larson, 17.
Investigators were trying to determine if the teens had robbed at least two other stores in the area not long before trying to rob the liquor store.
Bruce Jones said he was sitting in a van across the street while his nephews bought drinks inside the store. He said he heard shots and ran into the store, where he saw both robbers lying on the floor "bleeding out."
"Greed and being thirsty, that's what gets you killed," Jones said. "You just can't go taking people's stuff."
The store was the site of a previous robbery in which a suspect was shot to death in a struggle for a gun and a clerk wounded by a second robber on Aug. 11, 2011.
A group of bystanders stood talking loudly outside the store, which had a sign banning guns from the premises.

"They don't play, and I don't blame them," a woman said of the storekeepers. "This (has) happened to them before."
Someone at the liquor store in the immediate aftermath of the shooting had taken a photo of the two bodies: one whose face is visible, eyes and mouth open; another in blood-spattered jeans next to a thick pool of blood. A gun lies on a mat next to racks of pork rinds and bottled water.
The photo was posted to social media and spread quickly, attracting a group of people to the sidewalk next to the store's parking lot.
When some police personnel came out of the building, a few bystanders crossed the police tape to approach them.

“Where were y’all at?” yelled one man.

That's when someone showed Larson's mother the photo. Her face crumpled, and she began to cry.
Clerks at the store declined to comment Sunday afternoon. The relative of the store owner could not immediately be reached for comment.

Frankie Brandon, William Larson's older sister, said Sunday afternoon that the teen had stopped by their mother's house on Saturday night, changed clothes, then headed back out. Later that night, a friend came knocking on the window asking if she had heard from the teenager, then told her about the shooting at the liquor store a few blocks south.

Brandon said she and her boyfriend hustled to the scene, and before long, saw the photos of the two boys lying dead that had been disseminating on social media.

"I saw Keshawn's face and I recognized William's clothes," Brandon said. "He had my boyfriend's jacket on. I just went numb."

Brandon acknowledged her brother had been in trouble before but did not specify what that entailed. She said he and Marzette were "always together," and that Larson recently had received his GED and enrolled in Triton College in suburban River Grove.

"He showed me his class schedule, filled out his FASFA and everything," Brandon said. "He didn't even get a chance to start. I'm just lost. I'm just numb that I won't see my brother again."

Source: Chicago Tribune