Three Arrested in Derrion Albert Beating Death

Three have been arrested in the case of Derrion Albert's beating death, which was caught on tape and which I wrote about earlier. The three have have been charged with first-degree murder and will be tried as adults.

Silvonus Shannon, 19, Eugene Riley, 18, and Eric Carson, 16, have been charged in last Thursday's death of Derrion Albert, 16, an honor student at Fenger High School in Chicago. Although the incident is believed gang-related, Albert has no gang affiliations.

Some believe Derrion Albert was beaten on his way home from school for refusing to join a gang. However, some witnesses say he was just a bystander swept into a violent fight as collateral damage.

Derrion Albert's beating death with wooden boards is depicted in a video that has been circulating on the Internet; police had been using that video to gather evidence.

It is disturbing to note that the youngest of the three, Eric Carson, who was allegedly from the gang faction near Fenger, was the first to hit Derrion Albert with a railroad tie. As he then struggled to stand and escape, Riley also hit him with a railroad tie and Shannon repeatedly stomped on his head. Both Riley and Shannon allegedly belong to a separate gang faction that lived in or near Altgeld Gardens.

Records show that the youngest, Carson is on probation for a robbery conviction. Shannon and Riley have no criminal records. Well, they have no criminal records until the Derrion Albert murder. I hope they will be convicted and have a long stretch in prison.

Today was the first day Fenger High School has been open since Derrion Albert's murder. All Chicago public schools were closed Friday for a staff day. A march and vigil for Albert, organized by his family, was held at 1 PM outside Fenger. Originally, the vigil had been planned for Sunday, but Albert's family agreed to postpone it at the request of the Chicago Public Schools.