Video: Suspect In Takiya Holmes Holmes Murder Beaten At Courthouse

By Stephen Gossett in News on Feb 17, 2017 4:01PM

CCB-CAM1.014Sheriff1020_2017-02-15_12h37min50s858ms from Cook County Sheriff on Vimeo.

The man accused of fatally shooting 11-year-old Takiya Holmes was beaten by a Cook County Jail inmate on Wednesday as the suspect appeared to be asleep in a chair ahead of his bond court hearing.

The assault was captured on surveillance video, which was uploaded to the Cook County Sheriff's Vimeo page.

Antwan Jones, 19, was handcuffed to a chair and drowsing off when Renard Williams, 24, unshackled, steps toward Jones and wallops him with a roundhouse punch to the face. Williams gets about three more blows to Jones' body before he is restrained by authorities.

Williams had just returned from a status hearing on a murder charge of his own, from a death in June of last year. Inmates are commonly left unshackled while being escorted from court appearances, spokesperson for the sheriff's office Cara Smith told the Sun-Times. Smith was unaware if Williams knew of the murder charge against Jones, according to the Trib. Jones did not press charges against Williams for the attack.

Jones is accused of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 11-year-old Holmes. The young girl was in her mother's vehicle, with her mom, aunt and younger brother, on Saturday night in the 6500 block of South King Drive when she was struck in the head by a stray bullet. She died on Tuesday at Comer's Children Hospital. Holmes was the unintended target in a gang confrontation at Parkway Gardens, prosecutors said. Jones was subsequently denied bail at his hearing on Wednesday.

Holmes was one of three children under the age of 13 shot and killed in Chicago within four days.