The 19-year-old charged with 49 felonies related to the June 2 shooting at Graceland Cemetery during the funeral for Da’Shontay King is allegedly affiliated with a rival gang of the one King reportedly belonged to.

Lamarion Blair was charged Monday in Racine County Circuit Court with 23 felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety as a party to a crime, 25 felony counts of bail jumping, and one felony count of possession of a firearm by an adjudicated juvenile. If convicted, he faces the rest of his life behind bars; up to 447-1/2 years in prison or up to $850,000 in fines.

King was shot and killed by Racine police officer Zachary Brenner on May 20 after a foot pursuit that started as a traffic stop. On June 2, a large group of mourners gathered for King’s funeral at Graceland Cemetery when multiple shots were fired into the crowd. Two women were wounded, one seriously, and required surgery. Brenner was not charged in King’s death.

Criminal complaint details same-day shootings

According to the criminal complaint, witnesses at King’s funeral saw a black, Chevy Equinox stopped in the 600 block of Lathrop Avenue with one person sitting inside and one person standing outside the vehicle firing at King’s family and friends inside the cemetery. The car was later traced to multiple calls for shots fired in the 2800 block of Wright Avenue where the individuals from the Equinox were involved in a shootout with individuals in two other vehicles.

Video surveillance from the area of the Wright Avenue incident shows the occupants—one of whom was identified as Blair—from the Equinox fled after shots were fired and hid in the backyard of a home, the complaint continues. Blair is a known member of the Northside for Life (NFL) gang that police have categorized as “a younger, more violent offshoot of the Vice Lords.” King was a known member of the 12th Street Gangster Disciples.

According to the criminal complaint, software from the Equinox’s navigation screen showed the vehicle’s travel route on June 2 as beginning on the north side of the city before going to an address on Hagerer Street and continuing to various points in Racine before stopping in the 600 block of Lathrop. From there, it was driven at a high rate of speed to where it was parked on Quincy Avenue near the 2800 block of Wright Avenue.

Bullets matched to other shootings

Casings recovered from the cemetery and Wright Avenue incidents as well as the floor of the Equinox came from the same high-powered rifle used that day as well as in shots fired cases after the cemetery shooting, the complaint reads. Prints taken from inside the car match those of Blair and those of Luis Granados, 16, who was also arrested for his alleged role in the cemetery shooting.

Granados, also suspected of being a member of the NFL gang, was arrested June 26 with two guns under his seat in the car where he was found, and they were matched with the same additional shootings as the rifle from the cemetery incident. He was charged with possession of a firearm, and a minivan believed to be involved in those shootings with additional rifle casings inside that match those from the cemetery and Wright Avenue situations was found half a block from his residence. According to the criminal complaint, investigators found the rifle at Granados’ home as well as a key to the minivan.

The shootings appear to be linked to the Sept. 3, 2021, shooting death of Jayden Cronin, 17, the complaint continues. He was shot in the head walking home from a football game at Horlick Field with his hand in his pocket where a gun was found, according to a story on FOX 6 News. Granados’ cousin, Sincero Granados, now 15, has been charged with Cronin’s homicide, and his mother was charged with trying to hide him from authorities. Cronin’s siblings are members of the NLF’s rival, the Dirty P gang.

Blair found in Las Vegas, assigned $1 million cash bond

According to the criminal complaint, police received a tip that Blair was traveling to Las Vegas. U.S. Marshals apprehended him there, and Blair was extradited to Racine on or about June 28.

He was assigned a $1 million cash bond and will next be in court on August 17 for his preliminary hearing.

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