More Top Picks Hamilton Beach Temp Tracker 6 Quart
player ready...After more than seven years, the trial of a man accused of shooting and killing a high school senior at Orland Square mall in Orland Park began Tuesday, with jurors hearing from a witness grazed by a bullet Jan. 21, 2019.
Jakharr Williams, of University Park, is charged with murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery following the shooting death of 18-year-old Javon Britten. Williams was 20 at the time and claims he acted in self defense.
Prosecutors said Williams followed Britten and two of his friends inside the mall Jan. 21, 2019, after they left a store and walked near the mall’s food court. One of Britten’s friends, Armani Griffin, was arrested and held in contempt of court after refusing to appear as a witness for prosecutors in the case, causing an earlier delay in the trial.
“It’s not clear what he’s going to say,” Assistant State’s Attorney Cheryl Galvin said in her opening statement about Griffin. “But you’re going to hear about the events that happened.”
Williams began yelling at the group and words were exchanged among them before Williams began shooting, firing six times, prosecutors said. Britten was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died a short time after the shooting.
Jonathan Reynolds was also grazed by a bullet in the back of his left knee, the now 30-year-old testified Tuesday.
Reynolds told police that Britten’s group of friends commented on his jacket while they were in the restroom together. He also confirmed he heard the group arguing among themselves as they walked away from the food court.
Reynolds said as he and his girlfriend walked toward the Apple Store on the mall’s lower level, they heard gunfire erupt and started running.
Video footage of the mall’s hallway showed Reynolds jump as the two ran toward the store, before they took refuge inside and exited Orland Square through a back door. Prosecutors said the shooting caused many other shoppers to hide in the rear of stores for safety with store gates closed.
“As the bullets flew around the room, ricocheting, breaking into pieces, going through doors, Jonathan Reynolds was shot,” Galvin said.
Reynolds testified Tuesday he didn’t realize he was grazed until he was driving toward his girlfriend’s house and felt a burning sensation in his leg. He was later treated at Adventist La Grange Hospital, where he was released the same day.
Prosecutors said Williams had two felony convictions for robbery and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon before the shooting. He was on parole for the robbery conviction, with his parole due to end in June 2020, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.
Galvin said Williams was “shopping for a fight, and as he stalked the halls and walked through that mall, he carried a loaded firearm with him.”
Williams’ attorney, David Drwencke, said he and prosecutors agree on many facts, but said he would introduce evidence about Britten’s own role in the shooting.
“You’re going to hear that there is some history between Mr. Williams and Mr. Britten,” Drwencke said. “You’re going to hear that there were issues on that day.”
Drwencke said after words were exchanged, before shots rang out, Britten had to be restrained by his friends. He also said the shooting took place in an area of Orland Square that was under construction, and it was not recorded by mall surveillance cameras.
Drwencke told jurors that after hearing the evidence, they would “be left with things that are unanswered.”
More Top Picks Best Home Bar Refrigerators
“And what does that mean?” he asked. “It means it’s not proven. If it is not proven, it is not guilty.”