Dec. 04--A jury took about an hour Wednesday to convict a reputed gang member in the 2011 slaying of a 15-year-old boy on the West Side and the wounding of the boy's mother, according to prosecutors and court records.
Keith Talbert, 29, was convicted of murder in the slaying of Antonio Johnson, 15, a sophomore at Marshall Metropolitan High School who played linebacker on the school's frosh-soph football team and attempted murder in the wounding of Antonio's mother in the same attack, as well as aggravated discharge of a firearm. Talbert's jury trial had begun Monday, and the jury took an hour to convict him, said Cook County state's attorney's spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.
Antonio had just returned from the grocery store with his mother when they were shot on their front porch in the 700 block of North Springfield Avenue about 4 p.m. Sept. 25, 2011, his mother told the Tribune at the time.
A car pulled up and someone inside opened fire. Antonio was shot in the head, and his mother was shot in the forearm.
Antonio's grandmother, in need of a transplant, was given his kidney, according to their family.
Talbert was arrested in January 2012 in Milwaukee by members of the U.S. Marshals Service. The case had been featured in December 2011 on the "America's Most Wanted" television program.
Police have said Antonio and his mother were not the intended targets of the shooting.
In October 2011, Chicago police obtained a warrant for Talbert's arrest. The U.S. Marshals Service joined in the search for Talbert when authorities learned he may have fled Illinois.
Talbert was set for sentencing Jan. 7 before Cook County Criminal Court Judge James B. Linn.
