A judge denied pre-trial release to a suspect extradited to Lake County on charges he gunned down two innocent victims walking in Waukegan in February.
Tylo Eddins, 19, was ordered detained in Lake County Jail after Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak determined Eddins was a threat to the community due to the murder of the two victims on Feb. 24 and multiple gun charges from when Eddins was a juvenile.
Tylo Eddins, 18, of Killeen, Texas, was charged with six counts of first-degree murder, and Ishawn Z. Pitts, 19, of North Chicago, was initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder before a Lake County grand jury returned indictments charging Pitts with four additional counts of first-degree murder and Eddins with six total counts of first-degree murder.
Waukegan Deputy Police Chief Scott Chastain said Eddins allegedly entered an Uber driver’s vehicle near an expressway ramp in Chicago while pretending to be the designated pickup on Feb. 24.
Eddins displayed a handgun and stole the silver 2020 Kia Sorrento SUV from the Uber driver, Chastain said.
The Kia was driven to Waukegan where an armed robbery occurred in the 500 block of South Genesee Street.
Eddins, wearing a mask, approached a victim at gunpoint and robbed him of $20, Chastain said.
Eddins reportedly returned to the stolen Kia and left the area before picking up Pitts, Chastain said.
They drove through the 400 block of Powell Avenue in Waukegan where they spotted Rodrigo Olivan, 28, of Waukegan, and Ana Gil, 24, of Waukegan, who were walking on the sidewalk in front of a home, authorities said.
Attorneys said Eddins opened fire on the victims first, then told Pitts to “finish them off” after the victims were down, Chastain said.
Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Jeffrey Facklam said in court previously approximately 22 shots were fired at the victims. 12 were fired initially before 10 more shots were fired after a brief pause.
Gil was able to call 911 despite being shot nine times, authorities said. She was transported to the hospital and died days later.
Olivan was pronounced dead at the scene after also being shot multiple times.
A surveillance video, obtained by Lake and McHenry County Scanner, showed the victims walking on the sidewalk past a home.
Just after the two victims were outside of the video frame, the stolen Kia was seen speeding past before over 20 shots were fired. A woman could be heard screaming in the background.
Chastain said the shooting occurred “for no reason” and was a “senseless shooting” of the two victims who had no ties to the suspects or ties to any criminal activity.
“This case is an absolute travesty,” Chastain said.
During the detention hearing for Pitts, Facklam reaffirmed that the two victims were “completely random individuals” that the two suspects encountered.
“There seems to be no connection between the victims and this defendant. It was two completely random and innocent people walking down the street who were come upon by the car… who were shot… for absolutely no reason,” Facklam told a judge.
After the shooting, the suspects fled northbound in the Kia and traveled to Zion where it crashed into a fence.
Multiple occupants fled the vehicle and a witness reported one of them dropped a firearm as they ran but picked it back up, Facklam said.
Detectives were able to link the crash to the homicide that identified the two suspects, along with a juvenile offender.
Chastain said a search warrant and area search were conducted in Zion on February 25, which led to the recovery of evidence related to the homicides and carjacking.
Pitts had an active outstanding warrant for aggravated robbery out of Zion and Waukegan police detectives took him into custody on February 29. A grand jury upgraded the charges in that case to armed robbery.
He was transported to the Waukegan Police Department and interviewed where Pitts later confessed to his role in the shooting, Chastain said.
Pitts was also able to corroborate the details of the investigation to detectives, Chastain said.
Eddins fled Waukegan shortly after the homicides but was arrested last month in Killeen, Texas on an unrelated burglary case and other crimes in Texas.
Eddins was held in the Bell County, Texas Jail while awaiting extradition to Illinois. Extradition was obtained in September, leading him to appear before Potkonjak on Sept. 12.
Potkonjak said at the detention hearing that Eddins had had four previous gun charges in juvenile court before the Waukegan murder in February.
“From what I just heard, he and two of his cohorts executed two innocent people,” Potkonjak said. “So looking at his history and characteristics, the court has to decide whether or not he is inherently dangerous, and he is.”
Eddins and Pitts face a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted of the charges against them.
Eddins is due back in court on Tuesday, Sept. 24, for arraignment on the murder charges.