A 20-year-old Ford Heights man has been charged with 1st degree murder after a Sheriff’s Police investigation found that he shot and killed his cousin, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
Sheriff’s Police investigators found that on 10:30 a.m. on Friday, July 1, Duboris Harden, was outside in the driveway of a house on the 1400 block of 14th Place in Ford Heights with his cousin, Tyjuan Willingham, and four others. After a verbal altercation, Harden, who is on parole from IDOC for a previous burglary conviction, shot Willingham with a semiautomatic firearm before fleeing the scene.
Shortly after 12:00 p.m. on Friday, Willingham was pronounced dead at St. James Hospital. He suffered at least three gunshot wounds.
Sheriff’s Police investigators learned that Harden had pulled the fatal trigger and tracked him to a location on Deer Creek Lane, less than a mile from the site of the shooting.
Harden is currently being held at Cook County Jail after being given no bond at a Sunday hearing. His next court date is July 6 at Markham Courthouse.
Sheriff’s Police has served as the sole law enforcement authority in Ford Heights since 2008, when its police department was disbanded.
Sheriff Dart reminds the public that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the government in a court of law.