A 15-year-old boy has been charged as an adult in a string of daylight armed robberies on the CTA Pink Line earlier this month, prosecutors said today.
Tyshun Jones, a freshman at Bradwell Math, Science and Technology Academy, is accused of robbing four separate victims at gunpoint at the stops at Kostner and California Avenues on the Southwest Side, prosecutors said.
The robberies occurred on April 14, 19, 20, and 22 in the afternoon or early evening, Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Costello said. Jones brandished a handgun before robbing the victims of their cell phones, wallets or cash, he said.
In the first robbery, Jones approached a 25-year-old Lakeview man who was exiting a train at Kostner at about 1 p.m., pointed a gun at him and demanded his valuables. After the victim complied, Jones said, “’I’m giving you your life, (expletive),’” Costello said.
Jones, who has been on juvenile court supervision since February for a theft conviction, was arrested at his school, 7736 S. Burnham Ave., on Thursday morning. All four victims identified him in a police lineup, Costello said.
The tall, lanky defendant grinned as he walked into court dressed in a blue juvenile jail sweatshirt. When Circuit Court Judge Ramon Ocasio III asked Jones if he understood the charges, the boy’s mother, India White, 29, spoke up from the courtroom gallery.
“No, he don’t understand that -- because he don’t understand nothing!” White said.
After questioning the boy and determining he was able to grasp the nature of the charges, Ocasio set bond at $1 million.
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