STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Police To Charge Gang Member Over Death Of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee

Authorities have charged Corey Morgan with first degree murder.

The Chicago Police Department announced their plans to charge a 27-year-old in the shooting death of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee earlier this month.

Chicago Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy identified shooting suspect Corey Morgan of Lansing,Ill, charging him with first degree murder. He also revealed that Morgan had at least two other accomplices in this tragic shooting but are unsure of what role each suspect played in the killing.

Authorities are on the hunt for one of the two remaining suspects identified as Kevin Edwards while the third unnamed man is already being held in police custody on unrelated charges. 

Commissioner McCarthy believes 9-year-old Lee's death was related to his father's gang affiliations.

Pierre Stokes, father of Lee, previously told reporters that he didn't have any gang ties and that he believes his son's death was unrelated.

However McCarthy insists the shooting was indeed gang related. 

"All three (suspects) are in the same gang," he told reporters. ""I can tell you this: They are going to be obliterated. That gang just signed its own death warrant."

Asked about Stokes' cooperation with authorities, McCarthy said he wasn't being helpful, " not at all." 

The shooting, which occurred in early November has been part of a string of violent crimes plaguing Chicago's south side in recent months leaving at least two other people dead.

Commissioner McCarthy said Morgan met with the Chicago Police Department two days after Lee's death with his lawyer present but did not make a statement. He was then arrested two weeks later for an unrelated weapons charge. The bond was set for $1 million, in which Morgan made the $100K bail and was subsequently released.

To the suspect still at large, McCarthy warned: "We are going to catch you, we're definitely going to catch him."  "And quite frankly, in a heinous crime like this, he's probably better off if we catch him than somebody else."

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(Photo: REUTERS/Cook County Sheriff's Office/Handout via Reuters/Landov)

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