More than six years after a shooting at Orland Square mall in Orland Park that left a high school senior dead, the man accused plans to claim self-defense, according to a recent court filing.
Jakharr Williams is charged with murder, attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery for the Jan. 21, 2019, shooting that killed 18-year-old Javon Britten, of Richton Park, sent shoppers scrambling for safety and wounded a bystander.
Britten was a senior at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields.
Williams was arrested in Matteson two days after the shooting by members of the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force after an intensive manhunt and has been held at Cook County Jail since an initial court appearance that month.
A Jan. 24 filing by Williams’ attorney, David Drwencke, says his client plans to introduce evidence of felony convictions on the part of the victim, including reckless discharge of a firearm.
The attorney said Williams will also, at trial, introduce evidence of “years of what could be classified as bullying/harassment” of his client by the victim.
Authorities said at the time of Williams’ arrest that he and Britten knew each other, and that Williams graduated in 2017 from Rich Central.
At a brief hearing on the case Friday at the Bridgeview courthouse, Drwencke asked for more time to amend that motion, with Judge Margaret Ogarek continuing the case until Feb. 14. The judge indicated a trial date could be set soon.
Asked why so many years have passed with the case yet to go to trial, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said it could not comment.
Williams’ attorney was in a trial Friday and not immediately available to discuss the case
Prosecutors said Williams followed Britten and his friends inside the mall after they left a store and walked near the mall’s food court.
Williams began yelling at the group and words were exchanged before Williams began shooting, firing seven times, according to prosecutors. Britten was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died a short time after the shooting.
Prosecutors said the shooting caused shoppers to hide in the rear of stores for safety with store gates closed.
Britten’s family said after the shooting he was at the mall with his older cousin/adopted brother, with whom he lived in Richton Park.
Prosecutors said that, before being charged in the Orland Park shooting, Williams had two felony convictions for robbery and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He was on parole for the robbery conviction, with his parole due to end in June 2020, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.
Williams, of University Park, was 20 at the time of the shooting and is now 26, according to jail records.
A court filing showed Drwencke began representing Williams last October, and previous defense attorneys had tried to secure bail for Williams in July 2021 and last fall.
mnolan@southtownstar.com
