A Chicago man was sentenced to 31 years in prison on Monday for his role in the three-year-old fatal midday shooting of a promising high school student on a South Loop street corner. Prosecutors said another man was hurt in the same shooting.
Jordan Parks, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of murder in exchange for the sentence imposed by Judge Stanley Sacks, court documents show. According to state law, Parks is required to serve the entire term.
The case revolves around the murder of Cameron Rayford, 18, who was about to graduate from Perspectives Charter School and had already completed internships at accounting and real estate firms as he followed his desire of working in investment banking.
Prosecutors charged Parks, then-16-year-old Antoine Blakes, and an unknown 15-year-old child with killing Rayford and another 18-year-old male on April 27, 2023, in the 1900 block of South State Street. Blakes’ case is still continuing, and he will be back in court on August 6.
According to prosecutors, Blakes was driving a stolen Kia with Parks and the 15-year-old in the passenger seat when the group came upon Rayford’s Jeep about 3:30 p.m. Blakes hit the Jeep and then pulled beside it while Parks and the teen opened fire from the Kia’s passenger windows, according to prosecutors. Three people leaped out of the Jeep and fled, but Rayford was fatally shot and stayed in the driver’s seat as the car went through an intersection before halting.
According to prosecutors, Blakes, Parks, and the teen abandoned the stolen Kia near Cermak Road and State Street before taking the Green Line train to 35th Street and walking to their apartment complex. Chicago police said they identified Blakes and the teen from CTA surveillance footage.
Investigators claimed Parks was identified as a suspect the day after the shooting, when he was shot himself. Officers observed that he was wearing the same shirt as one of the suspects in the South Loop incident. Cops soon began executing search warrants at all three suspects’ houses.
Officers reported finding a 9-millimeter handgun with an auto-fire switch at Blakes’ residence. Ballistics testing revealed that the weapon ejected several of the round casings discovered at the site, according to prosecutors. According to authorities, a second gun was discovered at Parks’ residence, and testing revealed that it had discharged shot casings from both the stolen Kia and the shooting site.
Parks has been charged with the murder of Rayford for the second time in his brief life. Parks was driving a stolen SUV in the summer of 2020 when he jumped a curb and collided with a 43-year-old woman in the 2900 block of South Wells. Parks left the scene but was apprehended while still clutching the screwdriver he used to operate the stolen vehicle, according to prosecutors.
The woman was disabled and resided in an inpatient care facility until she died of her injuries in February 2022. Parks pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in that case and was sentenced to three years on probation.
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