Juvenile witnessed ‘execution’ shooting of Cahokia Heights teen, prosecutor says

A juvenile told police he saw a man standing over a teen and shoot him in the back of his head in a Cahokia Heights “execution” last month, a St. Clair County prosecutor said Monday.

Lamondre A. Wilson, 20, of Cahokia Heights is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Terrance Booker on June 29.

St. Clair County Associate Judge Sara L. Rice ordered Wilson to remain in the St. Clair County Jail until his trial.

Booker was shot about 21 minutes after a vehicle was carjacked in St. Louis. The vehicle was spotted at the scene of the shooting, St. Clair County Assistant State’s Attorney Jason Emmanuel told Rice.

The juvenile witness implicated Wilson in both the shooting and carjacking, Emmanuel said.

In countering Emmanuel, St. Clair County Assistant Public Defender Jordan Blazek-Guinan told Rice that Wilson says he is innocent and denies any knowledge of the juvenile cited by the prosecution.

Blazek-Guinan also noted that the prosecution did not present any physical evidence to show Wilson was at the crime scene.

Booker was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of June 29 in the front yard of a home in the 1300 block of Williams Street. St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. previously reported Booker suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Authorities have not released information about a motive for someone to shoot Booker.

The Major Case Squad of St. Louis was called to investigate Booker’s death and the murder charge against Wilson was filed on Friday. Wilson, who was arrested on Tuesday, initially had been named as a “person of interest” in the investigation.

The detention hearing convened Monday for Wilson was a result of the state’s revamped criminal justice system. Since Sept. 18 when Illinois ended its cash-bail system, judges have been conducting detention hearings to determine whether someone charged with a serious crime can be released from jail before their trial. One of the components of the new criminal justice system calls for judges to decide whether someone could be a threat to any person or persons in the community if released from jail. In this case, Rice ruled that Wilson could pose a threat to the community.

Rice noted that the aggravating factors cited by the prosecution outweighed the mitigating factors cited by the defense.