A man accused of killing a 16-year-old boy over an $80 debt as the boy walked his then-14-year-old sister to school in 2009 was found guilty of murder Thursday, according to court records.
DeWallis “Teddy” Harris, 43, was accused of the May 6, 2009, killing of Ramone Morris in the 4400 block of West Adams Street. Harris was found guilty of first-degree murder Thursday in a trial before Cook County Judge Stanley Sacks, according to court records.
In the spring of 2009, Harris believed that Morris owed him $80, and the two scuffled several times over the debt, Morris’ family said at the time Harris was charged.
Morris and Harris fought again May 6, 2009, as the teen walked his sister to school in West Garfield Park, Morris’ family said. The fight escalated, and Harris shot Morris in the back of the head, killing him, according to prosecutors.
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Police said after the shooting that Morris was found in the street in the 4400 block of West Adams Street with a gunshot wound to the back of the head just after 9 a.m. that day. Morris was a Crane High School student who was at least the 35th Chicago Public Schools student killed that school year — information that CPS and police no longer make public.
Harris was arrested in November 2010 on a domestic battery charge at a home on the West Side, and police discovered he had been named in a murder warrant the previous June. He is due back in court June 5.