Oak Park Police have arrested two men in connection with the June 2012 shooting death of a Chicago man that occurred in Oak Park, a crime that police believe was done in retaliation to a prior altercation between the shooter and the victim.
The murder victim, Ramen Griffin, 25, of Chicago, had been the alleged perpetrator of a crime in Oak Park just a year earlier. In that case, Griffin was charged with stomping a victim’s head in a street fight at Lake Street and Ridgeland after Oak Park’s Fourth of July fireworks had ended.
Now Leon Robinson, 30, and Tijuan English, 22, have been charged with killing Griffin. English, whom police say had a prior altercation with Griffin, is believed to be the shooter. It is not clear that the prior altercation cited by police is the July 4, 2011 fight.
Robinson, of the 4900 block of West Walton, and English, of the 5900 block of West Walton, were each charged with one count of first-degree murder. Griffin was shot in the early morning hours of June 16, 2012.
Police found Griffin lying in the street at around 6:30 a.m. after responding to a call about shots fired in the area. The victim was on the Oak Park side of Austin Boulevard, having suffered multiple gunshot wounds. He was declared dead at the scene by Oak Park paramedics. The death was later ruled a homicide by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police say English and Griffin had a previous altercation, and that Robinson helped plan the shooting. English allegedly fired multiple shots with a 9 mm handgun. Witnesses at the time reported seeing a man running from the scene shortly after the shooting.
English and Robinson are being held with bond in Cook County Jail. Their trial date is pending.
On July 4, 2011 Griffin, of the 600 block of North Austin Boulevard, reportedly chased down a man at the intersection of Ridgeland Avenue and Lake Street, stomping him in the head as he lay on the ground. An Oak Park officer patrolling the area at the time witnessed the fight. Griffin was arrested at the scene and later charged with battery.
The victim, whose identity was not released by police after that incident, was hospitalized for cuts and a head injury.
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