Tribune: Teen charged in 2011 triple murder outside Chatham neighborhood bakery

Aaron Barnes - Chicago Police Photo

An update to last year's murders outside of a bakery on 87th Street:

Cook County prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old Chicago man in the 2011 slayings of three people outside a bakery in the Chatham neighborhood.

Aaron Barnes, of the 9000 block of South Jeffery Boulevard, was arrested Friday and later charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shootings of Chanda Thompson; her boyfriend, Shawn Russell; and their friend Cortez Champion, authorities said. He is being held on a no-bail arrest warrant.

Barnes' arrest come four months after prosecutors dropped murder charges in the case against another teen, Nicko Grayson, 17, who authorities originally implicated in the shooting. New evidence, including witnesses who came forward, pointed to Barnes as the killer, authorities said.

The shooting was retaliatory, authorities said.

Thompson, Russell and Champion, all 21, were fatally shot Nov. 5 while sitting in a car outside A Piece of Cake bakery in the 400 block of East 87th Street. Thompson had just picked up a cake there for her daughter's birthday party when the shooting occurred.

Also with regards to the original suspect:

Grayson, however, was in the area at the time of the shooting, the sources said. He now faces aggravated battery and robbery charges in a separate shooting from last year.

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