Memphis prosecutors this week dropped charges against a man who was arrested in connection with a fatal shooting in a South Loop barbershop last year — a murder that local and federal officials say was part of a deadly South Side gang conflict fueled by three U.S. Army soldiers who illegally bought and shipped a host of guns to Chicago.
Christopher Mosley, 30, was arrested Feb. 2, 2021, after he was seen in a vehicle that was linked to the Jan. 28 shooting death of Gregory Jackson III inside a barbershop at 19th and State streets, police said at the time. Mosley was not charged with murder, but three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, being an armed habitual criminal and being a felon in possession of a weapon.
According to Mosley’s arrest report, police found him with a gun that was illegally bought and shipped to Chicago by soldiers at the Ft. Campbell Army base on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line.
Court records show all charges against Mosley were dropped on June 27 after a Cook County judge granted a motion by Mosley’s attorney to quash his arrest.
In an emailed statement, a representative for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said: “After the court’s ruling on 6/27/22 which impacted the totality of the evidence, we concluded that we could no longer meet our burden of proof to move forward with the prosecution of this case. The court granted our motion to dismiss this case and the charges against the offender were dropped.”
Sources say over 47 murders, and 248 shootings has been part of an ongoing conflict between two Parkway Village gang factions: the “E-Bezzal Gang (EBG) Rollin’ 60s Crips”, and the “Shotta Fam Hoover Criminal Gang”
On May.16, 2023, the Hoovers were looking for rivals to harm in retaliation for the wounding four days earlier of one of the Hoover Criminal members, in North Memphis. The Hoovers believed Rolling 60 Crips were responsible for the shooting,
About 10:30 p.m., Hammonds with 2 others was walking down Summer Ave and White Station Road when a black BMW pulled in front of him and someone in the passenger seat rolled down the window
“Hey Groove, where you from?” the passenger asked, according to Hammonds. One of the men said he was from “Binghampton” and wasn’t tied to a gang. The other man said he was “60s” and threw up his gang signs, Hammonds said.