Some sort of ongoing dispute ended in gunshots and revenge murder on Friday, July 1. Nobody’s sure what’s been brewing besides the McCafé® Lattes at the McDonalds in Little Village, near Chicago, Illinois, but police are going to find out. Anthony Heredia is a 19-year-old cold blooded hit-man, calm enough to pick up a shell casing after intentionally killing his 17-year-old female target. He missed the other casing but cops found it. They found him, too.
Murder as a favor
Anthony Heredia may not be old enough to buy alcohol but he was already on parole for reckless discharge of a firearm. His parole officer will be disappointed to hear about this new murder charge. Tony obviously lied when he promised he wouldn’t play with guns anymore. He bragged to local police that he had a real good reason to shoot Tierra Franklin. He was doing a favor for friends. Specifically, court documents note, he told cops that employees of the McDonald’s “called that day and asked him to come to the restaurant after the employees recognized the girl, Tierra Franklin, from an altercation at the restaurant the previous week.”
Another version of the report notes, “Heredia said that an unidentified friend asked him to come over and take revenge on Franklin for hurling water at the staff. What prompted Franklin to throw the water, and who asked Heredia to attack Franklin, remain unclear. The murder took place at a drive-thru window during what police said was an ‘ongoing dispute.‘”
When Heredia peddled over on his bike, “the employees told him everything was fine.” He waited in the parking lot “while Franklin and her family got food inside.” It’s not clear who the family members were, as the girl had been recently orphaned.
For unrevealed reasons, Ms. Franklin “walked up to a drive-thru window and threw a cup of water inside, splashing an employee.” That was enough to provoke her murder. “Heredia pulled a gun and fired twice at her as she ran back to a car.”
Tierra Franklin was hit in the back by at least one bullet and her family quickly hauled her to St. Anthony Hospital, arriving around 3:00 p.m., where she was later pronounced dead, Chicago Police confirm.
Nobody at the McDonalds is talking and the Corporation has not released a statement concerning the murder. Ms. Franklin “was headed into her senior year at Curie High School and dreamed of becoming a lawyer.”
Shell casing in his pocket
Surveillance video clearly showed Heredia “returning to the parking lot and picking up a shell casing.” He didn’t find the other one. Police did and investigators matched it with “a shell casing found in Heredia’s pocket when he was arrested a short time later.”
Since then, he’s been charged with first-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon. This time, there’s no bail.
In April this year, Tierra’s mother, Keeyana Sanderson, “died of cancer. Her father was gunned down about 12 years ago. He has not been named and the circumstances around his killing have not been disclosed.”
Murder seems to follow the family around. “They tell you they’re going out to the store, you expect them to come back home,” said Franklin’s aunt, Juanita Flowers.
Heredia was living with foster parents under the supervision of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Courtney Smallwood, has confirmed. Prior to this murder, he was released with time served and an apology to his victim’s family the last time he recklessly pulled the trigger.
The judge was not happy at all with the facts of this case. Circuit Judge Susana Ortiz added for the record, “I will note here that we have a 19-year-old who can obtain firearms more readily that he can obtain a pack of cigarettes. That’s something we may want to look at.“