Murder charge filed in fatal shooting of 9-year-old on Near North Side

Janari Ricks | Provided

A first-degree murder charge has been filed in the fatal shooting Friday of a 9-year-old boy who was playing on the Near North Side.

Darrell Johnson, 39, was arrested Sunday in Chatham on the South Side in connection to the murder of Janari Ricks in a vacant lot near the site of the former Cabrini-Green housing project, Chicago police said.

Authorities said Janari was playing with friends in the rowhouses in the 900 block of North Cambridge about 6 p.m. Friday when a gunman opened fire, fatally striking the boy in the chest. Chicago police said the boy was an unintended target.

The boy was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead an hour later.

Darrell Johnson

Johnson’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, wrote on Twitter Monday that Johnson is “the wrong person to be charged....”

In a Monday news conference, CPD Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan credited neighbors with helping officers find the suspect quickly.

“We’re not in this position without the help of the community who came forward and gave us information which allowed us to identify and arrest the suspect,” Deenihan said.

Fifteen children have been shot to death in Chicago since June 20, according to Sun-Times records. Five of the victims were 10 years old or younger.

Also Tuesday, police announced that a third man is charged in the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Natalia Wallace during a Fourth of July party on the West Side.

Johnson is due in court later Tuesday.