Teen held in ambush killing of elderly Chicago woman, another suspect sought
A Chicago teenager is being held without bail on first-degree murder charges in the brutal caught-on-video ambush slaying of a 70-year-old woman in the Windy City.
The 17-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released by police, is accused of gunning down Yvonne Ruzich during an attempted car-jacking outside the grocery store where she worked on Aug. 16, police said.
The teen and another juvenile who remains on the run were identified by tipsters after surveillance footage of the slaying was released by police, the Chicago-Sun Times said.
The teen in custody was arrested Friday.
On Saturday, a judge denied bond for the young accused killer, CBS Chicago reported.
The shocking footage of the slaying shows Ruzich sitting outside Baltimore Food and Liquors on Chicago’s South Side at around 4:30 a.m while waiting for the store to open when the two gunmen walk up to the car and open fire.
Wounded, Ruzich sped off but crashed into a road sign down the street.
The two men pursued her and fired into the car again, killing the grandmother.
Police said the teens are believed to be linked to carjackings in the area.
“What’s going through their mind, they’re walking up and they want to take this car, and she drives away, and that quickly, they decide to fire,” said Chicago Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan told the outlet.
“There wasn’t a lot of interaction there,” Deenihan said. “But that just shows how emboldened they are and how quickly they are to discharge a firearm.”
Ruzich was a beloved figure in the neighborhood known to locals as “Grandma Jo,” the Sun-Times reported.
