Prosecutors said that a bicyclist tried pedaling away before he was fatally shot while riding near Grant Park in the early hours of June 16, according to new information presented in court following the deadly shooting last week.
Malik Jones was riding a bike in the 300 block of East Jackson Drive around 12:15 a.m. when he heard shots and felt pain. The 27-year-old was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition but was later pronounced dead. The medical examiner’s office ruled that Jones died due to multiple gunshot wounds in a homicide.
Oak Park man charged in connection with bicyclist fatally shot near Grant Park
Eighteen hours after the shooting, 18-year-old Eliel Argudo-Tenorio was arrested in connection with the attack. The Oak Park man faces one count of first-degree murder.
A Cook County judge ordered Argudo-Tenorio held pending trial at a detention hearing last week.
State prosecutors have since provided a more detailed account of what allegedly occurred leading up to the shooting.
Prosecutors allege that Argudo-Tenorio was at a birthday celebration alongside numerous witnesses at a house in Chicago on the night of June 15 when the group left in a six-vehicle caravan and drove to Jackson Drive, stopping in the far-right lane of the road just after 11:40 p.m.
When the caravan stopped, Argudo-Tenorio exited the rear passenger seat of a white Mazda that was among the line of cars, prosecutors allege. Several others from the caravan also got out of their vehicles, and the group began to hang out and drink on the sidewalk.
Around 12:13 a.m., surveillance footage captured by police observation device cameras shows Jones — who prosecutors say did not know Argudo-Tenorio — riding a bike on DuSable Lake Shore Drive and turning westbound on Jackson on the north side of the street. Jones then continued west on Jackson, toward Argudo-Tenorio and the caravan, per prosecutors.
Surveillance footage then shows Argudo-Tenorio taking out a handgun from the front passenger window of one of the cars in the caravan and “immediately pointing it at the victim,” prosecutors said.
Footage shows Jones riding his bike away from Argudo-Tenorio and looking back at him before riding out of the view of the camera, prosecutors said. Argudo-Tenorio then walked towards Jones — out of the camera’s view — before firing at Jones and striking him in the right thigh. Argudo-Tenorio “handed the firearm” back through the same window he had retrieved it and ran to the white Mazda, prosecutors said. Others from the caravan also ran back to their cars and the group ultimately fled the scene, driving westbound toward Michigan Avenue.
Officers responded to 911 calls for shots fired and found Jones on the ground near where the line of cars had been parked.
A license plate reader captured the license plate of the Mazda that Argudo-Tenorio had fled in, prosecutors said.
The Mazda was found a few hours after the shooting at 4235 N. Hamlin Ave. in the Irving Park neighborhood. Three witnesses from the caravan were inside the car at the time, prosecutors said. One of the witnesses told police that as the caravan fled, Argudo-Tenorio admitted to the shooting by saying, “‘I blew, I blew, I blew,’” and that he had messed up, per prosecutors. Witnesses also indicated to police that after the shooting, they dropped Argudo-Tenorio at his house in Oak Park.
Argudo-Tenorio was arrested in the 900 block of South Humphrey in Oak Park, where he lives.
According to prosecutors, Argudo-Tenorio’s juvenile record includes burglary and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2023 and possession of a stolen vehicle the following year.
Argudo-Tenorio is due in court next on July 7.
