Alleged Gang Members Charged in Slaying of Chicago Rapper

Alleged Gang Members Charged in Slaying of Chicago Rapper
A Chicago police officer talks with a detective at 3443 W. Monroe St. where three people were shot half an hour earlier on Aug. 20, 2021. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)
The Associated Press
10/13/2021
Updated:
10/13/2021

CHICAGO—Five alleged gang members have been indicted on murder charges in last year’s shooting death of a Chicago rapper that prosecutors say was part of an ongoing violent effort to protect gang territories on the city’s South Side, officials announced Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago said in a news release that the O-Block gang gunned down Carlton Weekly, also known as “FBG Duck,” in August 2020 in the fashionable Gold Coast neighborhood, and “claimed responsibility for acts of violence in Chicago and used social media and music to increase their criminal enterprise.”

Charged with committing murder in aid of racketeering, assault in the aid of racketeering, and various weapons charges are Chicago residents Charles Liggins, 30, Kenneth Roberson, 28, Tacarlos Offerd, 30, Christopher Thomas, 22, and Marcus Smart, 22.

Weekly and a woman had been standing on Oak Street in broad daylight when two men climbed out from two vehicles, opened fire, then climbed back into the vehicles and drove off. Weekly was killed and the woman was injured. Police said it appeared to be a “targeted” attack on either Weekly or another man nearby.

Liggins, Offerd, Thomas, and Smart were arrested Wednesday morning, and Roberson was already in custody in Cook County Jail, according to the release.

The federal murder count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison and the maximum sentence of the death penalty.

Liggins, Offerd, Thomas, and Smart were scheduled to appear in federal court on Wednesday afternoon. Roberson was scheduled to appear at a later date, prosecutors said.