Man Accused of Fatally Shooting 46-Year-Old Man on West Side Porch Detained Pending Trial
A man accused of disguising himself in a woman’s coat and fatally shooting a 46-year-old man on a West Side porch last month has been detained pending trial. Tyron Mars, 20, is charged with first-degree murder in the June 25 killing of Dillard Florence in the 1200 block of South Springfield Avenue. He also faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
According to a detention petition filed by Assistant State’s Attorney Todd Kleist, Mars had recently returned to Chicago from Olney, Illinois, where he had been living with his partner and their child. After a domestic incident on or around June 13, the partner moved out and returned to Chicago. Mars followed a few days later and was suspected—but not charged—in connection with the theft of a neighbor’s 9mm handgun before leaving Olney, Kleist said.
On the evening of the murder, surveillance video showed a car registered to Mars’ partner parking about two blocks from the shooting location, according to Kleist. He said Mars got out of the driver’s seat, retrieved a woman’s coat from the trunk, put it on, donned a mask, and walked away while his partner drove off.
Five minutes later, Florence was on a porch with at least four other people when Mars allegedly approached wearing the disguise, pulled a gun, and opened fire. Florence was struck multiple times in the neck and body and later died. Video footage showed the gunman running away, firing additional shots in a nearby alley.
Mars was later seen on video discarding the woman’s coat in the yard of a nearby senior center, according to the petition. His partner, who initially left the area upon hearing gunfire, returned and picked him up, the petition said.
Detectives used license plate reader data to link the vehicle to Mars’ partner and obtained a mugshot of Mars from his June 13 domestic battery arrest, according to prosecutors. Investigators noted “similarities” between the shooter in surveillance footage and Mars’ mugshot, the proffer said. Several witnesses also allegedly identified images of Mars in the woman’s coat as the gunman.
Kleist said records showed Mars’ phone was turned off 13 minutes before the killing and turned back on 8 minutes afterward. Ballistics testing revealed the shell casings recovered at the murder scene were “consistent with” having been fired from the same gun that was reported stolen from Mars’ neighbor in Olney, prosecutors said.
After being arrested, Mars admitted to being the person in the woman’s coat and acknowledged being in the area of the shooting, but he denied being involved in the crime, Kleist said. He offered no motive for the shooting.
Cook County Judge Shauna Boliker granted the state’s detention petition.
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