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Two teen boys buying candy fatally shot after asking Chicago man how tall he was
Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images

Two teen boys buying candy fatally shot after asking Chicago man how tall he was

This took place in Chicago

Two teenage boys are dead after asking a man about his height.

The teens were buying candy in a store in South Chicago prior to the fatal shooting.

What are the details?

Jasean Francis, 17, and Charles Riley, 16, visited a local candy store last week when they encountered the suspect, 19-year-old Laroy Battle, ABC News reported.

A third teen accompanied the two teens, who remains unnamed at the time of this writing. He was not struck by any bullets during the exchange.

Authorities say that Francis and Riley asked Battle how tall he was during the interaction.

"The victims were walking into the store, they saw Battle, he was standing in line while at the store and the victims commented that Battle, he was quite tall, and they asked him how tall he was and hoped to be that tall someday," Deputy Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said during a press briefing.

"Unfortunately, we will never even see the full growth of these poor children," he added.

Francis and Riley left the store and began walking home when they noticed Battle followed them from the store.

Reports say that Battle shot Francis in the back, chest, and left hand. Battle also reportedly shot Riley in the back and the left leg. Police recovered nine shell casings during the investigation.

First responders arrived on the scene and transported the teens to the University of Chicago Hospital, where they died from injuries sustained in the shooting.

Authorities were able to locate the suspect from security camera footage.

"Security cameras from the area were able to show the offender discarding a gun in the garbage can, and then Battle was eventually found hiding out in a motel," Deenihan said. "He was arrested without incident."

He insisted that there was no previous altercation between Battle and the teens.

"There was nothing that would have set Battle off to be angry at these kids," he said. "He is about 6'3", 6,4", and they literally just asked him how tall he was because he is extremely tall."

Battle was charged with two counts of first degree murder and denied bond.

How did the community help?

“Justice was very swift in this case because we got help from the community," Deenihan added. “The offender was identified quickly because the community called the detectives and they told them that was Battle in the video. That is how this case broke. The private security camera footage provided to CPD was incredibly valuable in this case. The fact that detectives can now retrieve this footage quickly and then request the help of the community to identify these [kinds of] offenders is invaluable."

“This is just one example of how Chicago can help improve the public safety by working together to remove these very dangerous offenders from the streets," Deenihan concluded.

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