The Chicago man charged with murder in connection to the death of his suspected accomplice during a computer store robbery in Carpentersville faces additional counts after his recent indictment by a Kane County grand jury.
Bobby Heard, 32, formerly of Carpentersville, remains in Kane County Jail on $3 million bail, accused of multiple counts of murder, armed robbery, robbery and armed violence for his role in the September holdup of Oscarin’s Computers.
Prosecutors charged Heard with murder by way of the state’s accountability statute because a second man involved in the robbery, Kenyon Slater, died while the pair were committing a forcible felony — armed robbery. Prosecutors initially charged Heard with felony murder and armed robbery at the time of his Sept. 22 arrest.
According to authorities, Heard and Slater entered the store during the evening Sept. 7 and, armed with handguns, confronted the store’s owner and an employee. They used nylon zip ties to restrain the workers while demanding money, court records state, noting the pair grabbed “some phones and approximately $15,000 cash” during the robbery.
One of the men — it is not stated in the documents whether it was Heard or Slater — struck the store employee in the head with a gun.
The employee was able to free himself and retrieve a gun he legally had in the store, according to documents. He followed Heard and Slater as they fled and, after they pointed their guns at him, opened fire, fatally wounding Slater, who later died at a nearby hospital, according to authorities and court filings. Carpentersville police responded to a 911 call of shots fired about 7:30 p.m.
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Heard fled in a van driven by a third man, according to documents. Witnesses and video footage were able to identify the vehicle, which was later found in Facebook photos associated to Heard, records show. Several recently unsealed search warrants describe how investigators identified Heard through the social media site.
U.S. marshals captured Heard in Missouri two weeks after the robbery. He appeared in court Thursday and was given a new hearing date in December, at which time he could be arraigned on the nine-count indictment.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.