Four men charged in the killing of a Skokie teen and shooting a 17-year-old girl plotted to rob the girl after arranging to buy marijuana from her, but the gunman in the slaying has not been arrested or charged, according to prosecutors.
Two of those charged, Dzevad Avdic and Jeremy Ly, were friends of the slain boy, Maxwell L. Gadau, 17, who was gunned down in the 9200 block of Kedvale Avenue in Skokie about 9:40 p.m. on Sept. 28.
Ly, Myles Hughes, and Nicholas Smith, all 19, were ordered held without bail in a hearing Sunday in Cook County court. Avdic, also 19, was expected to appear in court Monday.
Prosecutors made reference to a fifth man, who has not been identified publicly, as the one who had the gun during the robbery that led to Gadau’s slaying and the girl’s injury. That suspect has not been arrested or charged, said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office.
Gadau was pronounced dead and the girl, who was shot in the face, with the bullet later found lodged in a car door, remains hospitalized and is on a respirator, prosecutors said Sunday.
A memorial service for Gadua was held Sunday hours after the suspects appeared in court. His mother, Patricia Gadau, said news of charges in her son’s murder has “brought great relief.”
“That to me is a blessing. On the day of his service, I know no other child will be harmed by these boys,” Patricia Gadau said. “The community will feel safe again.”
Patricia Gadau said that Avdic and Ly had been to the family’s house and were friends of her son.
“I feel betrayed,” Gadau said. “It’s sad because I know their parents raised them here in Skokie to protect them from what we’ve been exposed to.”
The chain of events that led to Gadau’s slaying started with Avdic planning a robbery and asking Ly who might be a good target, Assistant State’s Attorney David Mullner said.
Ly gave Avdic the name and number of the girl, “indicating that if Avdic had a gun, she would give it up easily,” Mullner said.
On Sept. 24, Avdic contacted the girl and arranged to meet her to buy marijuana.
On Sept. 28, Avdic arranged to meet the girl, and he drove Hughes, Smith and the fifth man to the place where they were to meet. Smith later told detectives he was aware of a “snatch and run” plan before he went along with the others.
Avdic called the girl twice, with the call pinging — showing a location for Avdic’s phone — off a cellphone tower two blocks from the girl’s home, Mullner said.
When they met in the 9200 block of Kedvale, the girl got into the driver’s seat of her car, with Gadau in the front passenger seat. Hughes was in the rear passenger-side seat, and the unindentified man in the rear driver-side seat.
The unidentified man took out a handgun and demanded marijuana from the girl, who refused, Mullner said. The unidentified man then shot Gadau in the back and the girl in the face.
Smith took an ounce of marijuana from the girl, and Avdic, Hughes, Smith and the gunman then drove away, Mullner said. The attackers later smoked the marijuana.
After the shooting, police found a shell casing on the floor of the girl’s car, and another in the parkway nearby, prosecutors said.
At some point in the investigation, the girl identified Hughes in a photo lineup as one of those who had been with the shooter. Prosecutors did not give more details on how those charged were tracked down, or whether the fifth man is in custody or still at large. Skokie police were scheduled to hold a news conference Monday afternoon regarding the case, after Avdic appears in court.
Smith’s attorney, Edgar Howard said following court that his client is “a good kid.”
“He’s a pastor’s kid,” Howard said outside court, but he could not recall the name of the father’s church.
Smith, he said, “just happened to be in the car.”
Gadau’s mother said that she believed that her son hadn’t been targeted in the shooting.
“We as parents try to provide the best that we can give to our children and this happens. It doesn’t make sense,” Patricia Gadau said. “I’m sorry for the parents because I know they did their best. They don’t deserve this. we didn’t deserve this.”
She added, however, that she did not think the shooting was targeted and that Max was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Dzevad was a little quiet and I know that Max would go to him during the swim meets and talk to Dzevad. I’d see them laugh together,” Patricia Gadau said. “My guess was that nobody knew Max was in there.”
“I’m assuming that these boys would not have done this to a friend,” she said. “This was not targeted toward Max. It could have happened to anybody.”
“These boys have been caught and no other son will be hurt,” she said.
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