Seven years after gunfire sent shoppers scrambling through Orland Square mall, a jury in Orland Park finally began hearing the case Tuesday against the man accused of pulling the trigger. Jakharr Williams, now facing murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery charges, claims he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed 18-year-old Javon Britten and wounded another man on January 21, 2019.
According to the Chicago Tribune, prosecutors say Williams followed Britten and two of his friends into the mall after the group left a store and walked near the food court. Williams began yelling at the group, prosecutors said, and words were exchanged before he opened fire. The outlet’s account from Tuesday’s proceedings states Williams fired six shots, while an earlier Daily Southtown report on the case put the number at seven — a discrepancy the dossier record does not resolve.
Britten, a senior at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, was struck and later died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. A second man, Jonathan Reynolds, was grazed by a bullet in the back of his left knee; he was treated at AdventHealth La Grange and released the same day. Reynolds, who was 30 when he testified, told the court he heard Britten’s group arguing among themselves as they walked away from the food court, after an earlier exchange in a restroom where Britten’s friends had commented on Reynolds’ jacket.
Chaos Inside the Mall as Shots Rang Out
Reynolds and his girlfriend ran toward the Apple Store on the mall’s lower level once gunfire erupted, taking refuge inside before slipping out a back door, the report states. Prosecutors said other shoppers hid in the rear of stores as mall workers closed security gates for safety. The scene was photographed in the shooting’s aftermath by Chicago Tribune photographer Armando L. Sanchez…