April 29, 2008 - 7:40PM
ALTON - Police asked the public for help Wednesday in locating one of two brothers charged in the shooting Sunday of a 19-year-old man.
Lt. David Hayes, chief of detectives at the Alton Police Department, said Bryon D. "Momo" Blake, 17, of the 1200 block of Surrey Court in Godfrey, still was on the loose and police are anxious to get him into custody.
"Call us, we want to get him off the street," Hayes said. "We are concerned about him being a victim, too."
The Alton police telephone number is (618) 463-3505; people also can call 911 with information on Blake's whereabouts.
Blake and his 21-year-old brother, Byron E. "Little Havoc" Blake, were charged Tuesday with armed violence and aggravated battery with a firearm, both Class X felonies, in the wounding of Ryan H. North of Alton.
Judge Richard Tognarelli ordered both men held without bond.
Byron Blake is in custody.
Hayes appealed for information on Blake's whereabouts at a late morning press conference at the Alton Law Enforcement Center, 1700 East Broadway.
He reviewed events that happened at 10:30 a.m. in a yard of a home in the 1500 block of Mack Street in Alton to regional media at the press conference.
He released little new information that the paper already had not published.
Hayes said the incident still is under investigation. Once detectives finish their final report, the Madison County State's Attorney's Office and a Grand Jury will review it to determine if they will file more charges or indictments, he said.
"Other people potentially could be charged in the case," Hayes said.
The shooting happened after Byron Blake and Darius A. "Little Chicago" Hammonds struggled in an organized fight to work out a longstanding feud.
He said L'Tanya M. Smith, 33, who lives at the home, set up the fight Saturday. Smith videotaped the men's encounter by using a digital camera set in video mode.
The camera contained an SD card with limited memory, so the recording only lasted 1 minute, 48 seconds - ending as the first of three shots were fired.
Alton Police Chief Chris Sullivan released a copy of the DVD to The Telegraph on Tuesday.
Police said Tuesday that Bryon Blake was charged with the felonies because he allegedly passed a black Mac-10 gun to his brother, which the camera did not record.
Byron then allegedly fired three shots, wounding Ryan Hollis North, of the 500 block of Porter Street in Alton, in the back.
Police called his wounds superficial.
"It was a graze wound across the back, he was hit twice, through and through across his back," Hayes said, by each shoulder blade.
The recording shows North standing by a door of the house, holding a silver pistol.
Of the video, Hayes said it shows a sad but growing situation of young people having firearms.
"It is a growing trend across the country, with youths and young kids involved in gunplay and carrying guns," Hayes said. "Authoritative figures are not as strong in households as in previous generations."
He said police do not know why Smith captured the fight on her camera.
The Mac-10, which resembles the automatic Uzi, is a semi-automatic machine pistol that fires .45-caliber projectiles.
He said previously that the gun is easy to obtain and popular with street gangs because it is even more intimidating looking than some other firearms, and because it resembles an Uzi.
Hayes said on both Tuesday and Wednesday that it is legal to buy such guns, assuming the purchaser has a firearm owner's identification card.
Byron Blake, a felon who is on parole from Taylorville Correctional Center and who wears an ankle bracelet, did not buy the gun.
He got the gun from someone who purchased it legally, Hayes said.
"It was procured by Blake from a person who had legitimate possession of it," he said, not identifying the gun's owner.
Police discovered holes from a projectile in a window and siding of the house, and found shell casings in the yard from a .45-caliber firearm.
While carrying out a search warrant Monday at the apartment of Byron Blake's girlfriend in the 3200 block of Belle Street, detectives found a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson semi-automatic handgun; a .45-caliber Mac-10 handgun with a clip containing ammunition; a box with 32 rounds of Winchester brand, 38-special live ammunition and other evidence, a copy of the search warrant indicates.
Detectives also had a search warrant for the Blakes' apartment, but reportedly found no weapons there.
On Sunday, police say they recovered cannabis and crack cocaine from the Mack Street home, and cannabis from a sport utility vehicle owned by one of the fight spectators. So far, no one has been charged with a drug offense.
There was 11 or 12 people either involved or watching the fight, he said.
Hayes once again said victim North and three witnesses remaining at the scene were uncooperative after the shooting. Smith's recording sealed the case, which clearly shows faces of the participants, he said. The Blakes had left the scene after the shooting, as well, Hayes said.
Smith, who is North's sister, took him to Alton Memorial Hospital emergency room where he was treated for his wounds and released.
One or more people at the scene are believed to be students at Alton High School.
AHS Principal Philip Trapani declined to specify what action officials may take.
"Everything that happened in that incident was not school-related," he said. "Administrators can only take action if the incident causes some sort of a disturbance at the school.
Some of the students acting in that incident we consider to be a disruption to part of our school, and we have taken action according to school policy."
