March 04--Bail was set at $1 million Friday for a man in a wheelchair who has been charged in the fatal shooting of another man inside a gym at a high-rise apartment building on the Near West Side.
Reggie Daniel, 48, faces first-degree murder charges in the killing of Darrin Joss, 45, while he worked out on an elliptical machine about 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in the eighth-floor gym of the high-rise in the 500 block of West Kinzie Street. Daniel surrendered to police early Thursday.
Cook County prosecutors gave few new details about what led to the killing. Witnesses identified Daniel as the gunman and surveillance cameras captured the shooting, prosecutors said.
Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Daniel held in lieu of the $1 million bail.
Chicago police said Daniel, who has used a wheelchair since a gunshot injured his spine more than 30 years ago, shot Joss in the head and chest after an argument. Both of them lived in the building.
"I heard one shot, then I turned and I saw (the victim) fall," said a resident, who asked not to be named. "He was on the (elliptical) machine. After, (the gunman) rolled right past me. I didn't know what to do. I mean, dude had a gun."
Joss was bleeding from the head and struggling to breathe as a staff member hid under a desk and residents scrambled to hide, according to the resident.
About 3 a.m. Thursday, Daniel surrendered to police and called his sister from the police station.
"He said he didn't do it," the sister said. "He was not crying, he was not mad. He was calm. ... There's no reason for him to do this.''
Joss had worked at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade before starting his own trading firm called the Joss Group.
"He was a good kid and he enjoyed life,'' said his father, Kenneth Joss. "He was doing what he always wanted to do. I mean, that was his goal in life and he did it. I am very proud of him.''
wlee@tribpub.com
