15-Year-Old Crane HS Student Charged As Adult in Shooting

A 15-year-old is being charged as an adult in Friday's shooting outside Crane Tech Prep Common School. Devonte Smith is accused of killing 18-year-old Ruben Ivy.

Smith, a sophomore, is allegedly a member of the New Breeds gang, and according to the Sun-Times already had "15 arrests for offenses including aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic violence, mob action, marijuana possession, and aiding and abetting the sale of a stolen vehicle." Smith's defense attorney says he has no criminal background, however. Ivy, a senior, also had some run-ins with the police--he'd been arrested for trespassing, gambling, criminal damage and mob action--but was not a gang member according to his family.

Dozens of witnesses saw Smith shoot Ivy and identified him as the shooter, and prosecutor Mary Innes said in court that "[w]itnesses saw the victim raise his hand and say, 'I ain't even about that.'" Smith then allegedly fired, hitting Ivy in the chest. Innes also said that Smith and Ivy didn't know each other, but people who knew both say they did but weren't friends. Police are still investigating why another student was beaten with a golf club at Crane on Friday, too.

Crane, located at 2245 W Jackson, is one of CPS's more troubled schools. Catalyst reports that in 2006, police were called to Crane 113 times, and that

[P]olice reports show that in all but three of the 39 weeks that school was in session, at least one assault, battery or theft took place inside the building or on the grounds of the West Side school. During 14 of those weeks, three or more incidents took place—virtually one every school day. [link]

The graduation rate at Crane is 60.8 percent, and according to its No Child Left Behind report, only 7.7 percent of students met or exceeded state goals in the 2006-07 school year; 17.5 met or exceeded state reading requirements and 6.3 percent met or exceeded state math standards. [Trib, Trib, S-T, CBS 2, image via Crane's website]