April 24--After shooting Mechelle Lewis, prosecutors say her ex-boyfriend held their 5-year-old son in his arms, leaned down and whispered in Lewis' ear before hitting her in the head with his gun.
Myron Mason, the father of Lewis' two children, is charged with first-degree murder in Tuesday night's fatal shooting in the South Shore neighborhood, police said.
Mason, 33, had parked his white Buick near Lewis' apartment building on the 7200 block of South Bennett Avenue shortly before 10 p.m., according to prosecutors. He was on the phone arguing with Lewis as she drove toward her home, prosecutors said. The two had been together for 10 years but had separated in December.
When Lewis' van pulled up in front of her building, Mason drove away but came back and parked his Buick near Lewis' vehicle, prosecutors said.
Mason got out, walked up to the van and shot Lewis eight times while she was still in the driver's seat, prosecutors said. The couple's son was in the front seat and their 8-year-old daughter was in the back.
Mason then walked around to the passenger side and took his son in his arms, leaned down and whispered something to the boy's dying mother before he hit her in the head with his gun, prosecutors said Thursday at a bail hearing.
Mason dropped the handgun, put the children in the Buick and drove off. Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Lewis' current boyfriend saw the shooting from the corner of 72nd Street and Bennett Avenue and called police with a description of Mason's car. Within minutes, police curbed Mason's car with the children inside on the 7000 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, about 2 miles from the shooting, prosecutors said.
Mason admitted to officers that he had shot Lewis. He also called his sister and Lewis' stepfather before he was pulled over by police and told both of them he had killed Lewis, prosecutors said.
He allegedly told police who stopped his car, "I know what I did, I'm the one that called. I killed her, I killed my wife." He also allegedly said, "I don't have the gun on me. I dropped it by the car."
The children were not physically injured and later told detectives that their father had shot their mother. Mason later gave a video-recorded confession to killing Lewis, whom he referred to as his wife, prosecutors said.
Public records show Mason was convicted in 2004 of aggravated discharge of a weapon and sentenced to six years in prison.
Cook County Judge James Brown denied bail for Mason.
