An 18-year-old Golder College Prep student was caught on video following 15-year-old Caleb Westbrooks and his friends before fatally shooting Westbrooks during a robbery a month ago in the Noble Square neighborhood, prosecutors said Thursday.
Cook County Judge Barbara Dawkins ordered Tremell Neloms held without bail during a Thursday bond hearing that was broadcast live on YouTube.
Neloms is charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 18 shooting of Westbrooks in the 800 block of North Greenview Avenue, after an early dismissal from their high schools, located across the street from each other, police and prosecutors said.
Surveillance cameras captured Neloms during the entire incident, including when he fired three shots into Westbrooks then fired four more shots at Westbrooks’ group of friends before running back toward Golder where he attends high school, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said in court.
The incident began when Westbrooks and a group of friends left Rauner College Prep after school and walked to Golder College Prep to meet with friends about 12:30 p.m., Murphy said.
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As Westbrooks and his friends waited across the street from the school, Neloms is seen on Golder surveillance video leaving the school and walking through the group, Murphy said.
Westbrooks’ group saw other students leaving the school and once their Golder Prep friends met with them the group started walking along Superior Street as Neloms followed them, Murphy said.
Westbrooks and his friends stopped as they approached Chicago Avenue and Neloms walked through the group again, Murphy said.
Neloms then approached Westbrooks and Westbrooks asked him something, Murphy said.
Neloms then turned away from Westbrooks, pulled a gun from his right pocket, and pointed it toward Westbrooks and two others, while announcing a robbery, Murphy said.
After Westbrooks asked Neloms which one of them he is robbing, Neloms fires, shooting him in the stomach, chest and arm, Murphy said.
Westbrooks and his friends ran in opposite directions as Neloms fired four more shots toward them before running back toward Golder, Murphy said.
Westbrooks collapsed at 826 N. Greenview Ave. as two of his friends came to his aid, but he was later pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, Murphy said.
The entire attack was captured on surveillance video from Golder and a nearby condo, Murphy said.
Family and friends described Westbrooks as having an infectious personality. He was known for loving football, as a member of the Garfield Park Gators Youth Football team, and loving his grandmother, who was his “backbone,” according to Amelia Akordor, 14, who considered Westbrooks her brother.
“Everyone could be at their darkest moment and he would light everyone up,” Akordor said. “He basically put everyone before himself.”