The beating that ultimately led to Delfino Mora's death may have been all part of a game, prosecutors said Monday.
Three teens are charged with killing the 62-year-old grandfather and then posting a video of it to Facebook. They were allegedly playing a game called "pick him out and knock him out," according to statements made by Assistant State's Attorney Terry Clancy.
"It makes me feel like it was a joke to them," Mora's grandson, Leo Plata, told NBC Chicago. "And especially uploading that video? That's nothing to be proud of."
Clancy explained that in such a game, an offender picks out a victim, knocks him out by striking him and most likely robs him afterward.
Police said 16-year-old Malik Jones punched Delfino Mora, a father to 12 children and a grandfather to 23, last Tuesday in an alley in the 6300 block of North Artesian while he was collecting cans to sell for cash.
Jones then allegedly handed his cell phone to Nicholas Ayala, 17, and Anthony Malcolm, 18, to start recording the beating.
The video was later posted to Jones' Facebook page where it was found by police.
Mora's son Jose Mora spoke to reporters Monday about the allegations that his father's death was a game. Mora called the people responsible "heartless."
Local
"I don't know what I will do if i have them in front of me. Probably i will do the same thing to them to feel the things that my father felt at the moment," he said.
Malcolm's family also spoke to reporters Monday, saying that Malcolm's actions were out of character.
"My brother is a good person. He goes to school. He gets good grades," Malcolm's sister, Stephanie Malcolm explained. "He don’t get into trouble. He just was at the wrong place with the wrong people.”
Malcolm and Ayala were both charged Monday with first-degree murder and robbery. Jones, a Latin King member, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder and held without bail by Judge Adam Bourgeois.
Community activist Andrew Holmes calls videotaped cases like Mora's "modern day lynchings," and told reporters Monday that the person carrying the camera is just as responsible for the actions as the person throwing the punch.
"You should be charged for murder too, because you had the opportunity to dial 911 or tell your parents what happened, and you didn't," Holmes said. "Just as well as you had the gun in your hand and pulled the trigger, you should be charged, too."
