Fenger Beating Suspects Plead Not Guilty

Three South Side teens pleaded not guilty Friday to the fatal beating of 16-year-old Fenger High honors student Derrion Albert .

Silvonus Shannon, 19; Eric Carson, 16; and Eugene Riley, 18, are charged with the murder of Albert, an innocent bystander in a fight between two groups of students near the Roseland neighborhood high school on Sept. 24, prosecutors said.

The trio, who are being held without bond, pleaded not guilty to three counts each of first-degree murder and one count each of mob action, according to Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. Judge Nicholas Ford accepted the pleas and set a Dec. 9 status hearing.

The assault, captured on videotape, arose from a disagreement between students who live in Altgeld Gardens and another group who live in an area known as the “Ville,” according to Asst. State’s Atty. Jodi Peterson.

“It was a brutal and violent attack in which the victim was merely a bystander,” Peterson said during a bond hearing last month.

A shooting outside the school that morning led to a brawl after classes finished shortly before 3 p.m. Albert had been standing near 343 W. 111th St. when Carson and an unknown offender approached him, Peterson said.

Carson struck Albert in the head with a long wooden railroad tie and the unknown offender punched him in the face, knocking Albert unconscious, Peterson said.

When Albert gained consciousness, he moved a few feet away from the mob and tried getting up. But he was attacked again. Soon, a group of five from the Altgeld Gardens faction descended upon him. He was struck again with a railroad tied wielded by Riley as Shannon stomped his head repeatedly, Peterson said.

The video, shot by a witness, shows a group of teens striking, punching and stomping Albert 's head, police said.

Shannon, a Fenger student, and Riley gave videotaped confessions, Peterson said.

A fourth suspect, a 14-year-old boy, is charged as a juvenile with two counts of first-degree murder and is being held in the county juvenile facility.