By Dermot Connolly
A Chicago man charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend in the Mariano’s store in Evergreen Park on July 13 is being held without bail at Cook County Jail.
Evergreen Park Chief Michael Saunders said Armoni Henry, 21, reportedly a resident of the Ashburn neighborhood in Chicago, was identified by witnesses as a suspect after officers responded to a report of an active shooter at 9:15 a.m. July 13 in the Mariano’s grocery store at 2559 W. 95th St.
The victim was identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office as 21-year-old Jailene Flores, of Chicago. Henry allegedly pursued her into an employee-only storage room in the grocery store, where she was shot several times and died of her injuries. Police said surveillance cameras then captured Henry leaving the scene. A store manager tried to stop him but he fled in a vehicle.
Henry was then arrested about an hour later in the 1000 block of West Hollywood Avenue in the Edgewater neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago. He was tracked down using expressway license plate readers and traffic cameras, according to police.
Evergreen Park Police Lt. Wendi Franklin said Henry was arrested in the vehicle he left the store in, and the weapon used in the shooting was recovered at the same time.
Oak Lawn police informed Evergreen Park Police following the shooting that Henry and Flores had previously been involved in a domestic dispute, when she was working at the Amazon Fresh store at 4031 W. 95th St. She was granted an order of protection against him in April but attempts by Cook County sheriff’s police to serve him with it were unsuccessful and the order expired in May.
Prosecutors at Henry’s July 14 bond hearing in the Bridgeview Courthouse said the fatal shooting came after Flores found an Apple AirTag tracking device in her car on July 10 and removed it. The device was traced to Henry, who confronted her on July 12 about removing it. Before their final meeting, he allegedly sent her more than 100 text messages, including some threatening to hurt her brother and other family members if she stopped talking to him.
Henry’s next court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11 at the Bridgeview Courthouse.