Police outside Orland Square mall in Orland Park following a Jan. 21, 2019, shooting in which a high school senior was killed. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
A man charged in a January 2019 shooting inside Orland Square mall in Orland Park that left a high school senior dead and another person wounded was denied bail during a court hearing Wednesday.
Jakharr Williams has been held without bond since being charged in the Jan. 21, 2021, shooting that killed 18-year-old Javon Britten, of Richton Park, sent shoppers scrambling for safety and wounded a bystander. Britten was a senior at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields.
During a virtual hearing with Williams participating by Zoom, Cook County Circuit Judge Margaret Ogarek refused to set bond, but approved a request by Williams’ attorney that his client undergo a mental fitness examination.
Williams, of University Park, was 20 years old at the time of the shooting and is now 23, according to jail records.
Police outside Orland Square mall in Orland Park Jan. 21, 2019, following shooting in which a high school senior was killed. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)
Along with first-degree murder, Williams is charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery.
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David Sotomayor, Williams’ attorney, said during the hearing he has had discussions with the state’s attorney’s office regarding a possible plea deal.
Ogarek noted the violent nature of the shooting and said keeping Williams locked up protected the safety of friends of Britten who were with him in the mall as well as the community at large.
Britten’s friends were fired at but not hit, while Britten was struck at least twice, in the leg and chest. Another person at the mall was also hit by gunfire.
Javon Britten, known as Von, 18, was fatally shot inside Orland Square mall Jan. 21, 2019. He was a senior at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields. (Family of Javon Britten)
Sotomayor had sought to have his client released on bail, saying Williams’ father recently died and that Williams would be able to live with his mother.
Galvin pointed out Williams had two prior felony convictions for robbery and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. At the time of the shooting, he was on parole for the robbery conviction, with his parole due to end in June 2020, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.
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Galvin said Williams followed Britten and his friends inside the mall after they left a store and walked near the mall’s food court. She said that Williams began yelling at the group and that words were exchanged before Williams began shooting, firing seven times.
Authorities said Britten and Williams knew each other, and Williams had graduated in 2017 from Rich Central. Britten’s family said after the shooting he had been at the mall with his older cousin/adopted brother, with whom he lived in Richton Park.
Galvin said the shooting caused shoppers to hide in the rear of stores for safety with store gates closed while Williams fled the scene.
Williams was arrested in Matteson two days after the shooting by members of the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force following an intensive search.
Galvin said that footage from surveillance cameras shows Williams following Britten and the others, although it does not capture the shots being fired. She said prosecutors have eyewitnesses who would identifying Williams as the person who fired the shots.
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Sotomayor said that he has been in talks with the state’s attorney’s office regarding a possible plea deal, and asked the judge to approve the mental fitness examination to be sure Williams understood the ramifications of pleading guilty.
He said Williams, during his time in custody, may have suffered “mental dysfunction or issues” that could affect his ability to change his plea.
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The judge set Sept. 15 as the next court date.
Britten, who was known by family and friends as Von, worked part time as a busboy at Red Lobster in Matteson and had recently been accepted into a trade school. His family had said he had hoped to become an electrician.
At his funeral, Kelly Gochenour, one of Britten’s teachers at Rich Central, described him as one of those “extra special” students, and said he was a talented writer of poetry but “preferred to keep how bright he was under wraps.”
“He was an incredibly loyal friend,” Gochenour said. “He will be missed so, so dearly.”
mnolan@tribpub.com
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