Court documents obtained by the Associated Press appear to reveal that Chicago police solved the 2018 murder of Zachary Stoner, the famed YouTuber known as "ZackTV."
The documents show that police arrested five members of South Side Chicago's "Perry Avenue" gang, aged 19 to 22, in 2018 and 2019, on probable cause of first-degree murder. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute because they believed the shooting was between "mutual combatants." The Illinois court defined this as an agreement to fight or where sides in "a sudden quarrel and in hot blood, mutually fight upon equal terms."
Prosecutors also cited "inconsistent witnesses" as another reason not to prosecute. When questioned by AP about the case, the prosecutor’s office stated that "the evidence was insufficient" to file charges, and they added that police agreed with the decision.
Stoner was at the Clark Street Refuge bar on May 30, 2018, when he left with two friends during a rap battle that appeared to be getting heated, according to witnesses. He was with rapper Thomas "T-Streetz" Davis and an unnamed person in an SUV when two blocks from the bar, a gunman in a minivan opened fire, hitting Stoner in the shoulder and behind his ear, which traveled to his brain. Stoner crashed into a street lamp and the passengers fled.
Police arrived at the scene around 1:35 a.m. to find Stoner alive with a pulse, but he was later pronounced dead at 4:20 am. Davis survived the incident, but sadly, hours before Stoner's funeral on June 9, Davis was gunned down on a South Side sidewalk. Two of the five suspects arrested in the case have also since passed away.
According to AP, police consider Stoner’s case cleared, but prosecutors are leaving the door open to charges. They told the publication that they "will review any additional information that is brought to us by police."
Source: Associated Press
