Sept. 04--Two men got into a dispute with a friend in an Uptown parking lot and were shot to death minutes later by the friend and another man, prosecutors said Friday.
Michael Laster, 28, and Jonathon Thompson, 33, were each charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the slayings about 2:15 a.m. Wednesday in the 5000 block of North Winthrop Avenue, according to police. They are accused of killing Robert Anderson, 32, and Michael Gibbs, 34, who had been friends with Thompson but who got into a dispute with him early Wednesday that ended in their deaths, said Cook County state's attorney's office spokesman Steve Campbell.
Judge Adam Bourgeoi0073 Jr. ordered Laster and Thompson held without bail Friday, according to Campbell and court records.
Anderson, Gibbs and a third person pulled into a parking lot on Winthrop early Wednesday morning and the third person saw Thompson, a friend of Gibbs and Anderson's, prosecutors said. There had been some earlier dispute among the three, and as Laster walked across the street and the person who had been with Gibbs and Anderson walked away, Thompson and the two men got into an argument.
The dispute led to Thompson pulling out a revolver, and he, Gibbs and Anderson struggling for the gun and ending up on the ground, prosecutors said. Thompson started shooting, and Laster ran up and began firing also, hitting Anderson in the head, prosecutors said.
Thompson and Laster fled the scene, with someone who knew them spotting them as they ran past just after hearing shots, prosecutors said.
Anderson was pronounced dead on the scene, and Gibbs, who was shot in the jaw and the arm, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The victims were identified by prosecutors, but the Cook County medical examiner's office has not yet released their identities and home addresses, because the notification of family members regarding the two men's deaths has not been officially documented.
Laster, of the 6100 block of North Seeley Avenue, and Thompson, of the 5400 block of North Kenmore Avenue, were scheduled to appear in court again on Sept. 23.
Tribune reporter Deanese Williams-Harris and Alexandra Chachkevitch contributed.
