Two men face first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Jerry Lewis, a Chicago businessman involved in the $7B United Center redevelopment.
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During a detention hearing Friday, Assistant State Attorney Mike Pekara said the suspects, Nassie Mason and Erving Harris, exited a stolen vehicle parked outside of Lewis' offices at 2127 W. Madison St. on March 24, and, in front of six police officers, Mason shot Lewis once in the back of the head before Harris fired three additional rounds, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Lewis was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.
Lewis ran JLL Construction Services and was on the 1901 Community Implementation Committee, a group aimed at fostering inclusion for neighborhood residents in the massive United Center redevelopment.
Pekara said the police officers, who were patrolling the area, saw the suspects hop out of the car and witnessed the shooting, the Sun-Times reported. The two men were immediately arrested.
Mason and Harris were waiting for Lewis outside of his offices for at least an hour and a half before the shooting, according to surveillance footage.
"We have two individuals assassinating the victim as we had police feet away," Pekara told Judge D’Anthony Thedford, according to the Sun-Times.
Mason and Harris were each charged with first-degree murder and felony possession of a weapon, according to Chicago Police Department arrest records.
A possible motive has not been released.
Thedford ordered both men to be held in Cook County Jail. Mason and Harris are scheduled to return to court on April 14.
As a member of the 1901 Community Implementation Committee, Lewis ensured that Traci Quinn, founder and CEO of Pink Hats Construction & Development Group, completed paperwork to join a cohort seeking to become subcontractors for the United Center project, Crain's Chicago Business reported.
"It’s hard enough for minorities out here to get some of these jobs and be able to stay on these jobs, and he sacrificed his life to make sure that we would be able to be on this," Quinn told the outlet.
Lewis had also been involved in community development on the West Side of the city before the project's introduction.
UJAMAA Construction President and CEO Jimmy Akintonde told Crain's he worked with Lewis on several projects across the city over the past decade and that Lewis was key to bringing new contractors to the scene.
"He’s been really good at looking at people who are very, very early in their entrepreneurship journey and really helping guide and just being a good voice for direction," Akintonde told Crain's.
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