Oak Lawn Teen Charged In Fatal Evergreen Park Shooting

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — An Oak Lawn teen was arrested on his seventeenth birthday hours after a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Nicholas Hernandez, 17, appeared before Cook County Judge John Mahoney on felony charges of first degree murder and armed robbery.

Prosecutors allege that Hernandez — an alleged member of the Crazy Get Down Boys street gang — shot 25-year-old Aladin Jamaleddin in his driveway in Evergreen Park on July 21. Earlier in the day, the prosecutor said that Hernandez and Jamaleddin exchanged numerous texts and phone calls regarding the sale of Xanax. Hernandez allegedly texted a friend to say he had a “stain” and a “pipe,” meant to imply a robbery target and a gun.

After arranging to buy Xanax from Jamaleddin, a female friend drove Hernandez to the 9100 block of South St. Louis shortly after 7 p.m., according to the complaint.

>>> Warrant Issued In Evergreen Park Fatal Shooting

Witnesses claim they saw Hernandez walking to where Jamaleddin was sitting in his car in the driveway. Asking Hernandez if the Xanax was for his personal use or to sell, Hernandez is said have replied “both.” The prosecutor said Jamaleddin advised the youth to increase the price when Hernandez shot Jamaleddin in the head with a M&P Bodyguard 380 pistol.

Jamaleddin’s mother heard a gunshot inside the house and ran outside, where she saw her son laying on his back in the gangway bleeding from the face. She confronted Hernandez, who pointed a gun at her, the prosecutor said. Jamaleddin was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where he died of his injuries.

>>> Teen Identified As Evergreen Park Shooter: Cops

Other witnesses reported hearing gunfire on the block and seeing all or part of the confrontation. Witnesses were able to provide police with the license plate number of the Rav 4. Evergreen Park police and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force went to the 8800 block of South Kilbourn Avenue later that evening, where a woman fitting the description given of the female driver was pulling up in a red Rav 4, along with two male passengers.

Police said the female friend implicated Hernandez in the shooting. Investigators found Jamaleddin’s cell phone with the messages and texts with Hernandez discussing the Xanax deal, the prosecutor said. Jamaleddin also had a bag of yellow pills identified as Xanax in his pocket. Lying nearby was Jamaleddin’s own 9mm gun with a laser site, the prosecutor said.

Later in the evening, the prosecutor said that Hernandez searched the internet for news reports about the shooting. Investigators also collected evidence of Hernandez trying to sell the purported murder weapon hours after the shooting to three different people on Facebook Messenger. The prosecutor said Hernandez also bragged to another young woman about doing “the easiest stain ever.”

Hernandez was interviewed by investigators on July 22. The teen was released without being charged because the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office wanted more evidence before approving felony charges for first degree murder, the prosecutor said.

Police arrested Hernandez on Wednesday, his seventeenth birthday, at his parents’ home in Oak Lawn, the prosecutor said.

The assistant public defender said Hernandez attended Oak Lawn Community High School for two years, before transferring to Pathways In Education, an alternative high school in Chicago. Hernandez is currently employed as a truck detailer.

Wearing a red t-shirt, Hernandez hung his head during the reading of the charges against him. The teen’s family was in court, as was Jamaleddin’s mother and other family members.

The judge said that Hernandez met all the statutes for being detained without bail. Hernandez is being charged as an adult, even though he was 16 at the time of the alleged shooting.

The assistant public defender filed an order to detain Hernandez in juvenile housing at Cook County Jail, and a second order to preserve evidence. Hernandez is due back in court Oct. 18 in Bridgeview.