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Family: Chicago beating victim was ‘good kid’

A fourth teenager is due in court after being charged in the fatal beating of a 16-year-old Chicago honors student, who's described by family as a "great kid" who loved school.
/ Source: The Associated Press

A fourth teenager is due in court after being charged in the fatal beating of a 16-year-old Chicago honors student, who's described by family as a "great kid" who loved school.

Eighteen-year-old Eugene Bailey is one of four people charged with first-degree murder in Derrion Albert's death.

Bailey was due in bond court Tuesday. The other three were ordered held without bond Monday.

Cell phone footage shows a group of teens kicking and striking Albert with splintered railroad ties after the sophomore left school Thursday.

Albert's aunt, Rose Braxton, told CBS' "The Early Show" on Tuesday that her nephew was a "great kid" with an "easy-going temperament."

Albert's grandfather, Joseph Walker, added that he doesn't plan to watch the video of the attack because he wasn't there to protect his grandson.

The graphic video of the afternoon melee emerged on local news stations over the weekend, showing the fatal beating of Albert. His death was the latest addition to a rising toll: More than 30 students were killed last school year, and the city could exceed that number this year.

Albert was walking to a bus stop when he got caught up in the mob street fighting, authorities said.

The violence stemmed from a shooting early Thursday morning involving two groups of students from different neighborhoods, said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County prosecutor's office. When school ended, members of the groups began fighting near the Agape Community Center.

Wielding wooden planks
During the attack, captured in part on a bystander's cell phone video, Albert is struck on the head by one of several young men wielding wooden planks. After he falls to the ground and appears to try to get up, he is struck again and then kicked. Simonton said Albert was a bystander and not part of either group.

The Rev. Victor Grandberry told NBC Chicago that Albert "was just a nice young man that grew up in the community. Folks just bullied on him, they tried to rob him, they tried to do everything they can."

A camera attached to the Agape Community Center also captured at least part of the attack, the center's executive director, Milton Massie, told NBC Chicago.

"It was mob action, basically a bunch of kids, some coming from the east and others from the west on the street, fighting," he said.

Prosecutors charged Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, Eric Carson, 16, and Eugene Bailey, 18, with first-degree murder, Simonton said.

Shannon, Riley and Carson were ordered held without bond Monday. The Cook County Public Defender's Office, which represented the three teenagers in court, had no immediate comment. Bailey was due in bond court Tuesday, Simonton said.

Chicago police said they were looking for at least three more suspects, but would not discuss a possible motive for the attack.