Glen Ellyn man charged with St. Patrick’s Day murder in Chicago held without bail

A parolee from Glen Ellyn charged in a shooting death last month in Chicago’s Humboldt Park was ordered held without bail Friday.

Pretice Phillips, 46, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 17 death of 32-year-old Kevin Change.

Prosecutors said at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago that audio from surveillance cameras captured Phillips and Change arguing about a drug sale outside a home on the 800 block of North St. Louis Avenue, at 1:52 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day.

Phillips said “I’m warning you” eight times during the argument, according to prosecutors. At one point, they say Phillips walked to the passenger door of his white Acura SUV, reached inside and said, “I’m warning you, right now.”

Grabbing a handgun, he said, “I just told you,” pointed the gun and fired multiple times at Change, prosecutors said.

Change fell to the ground, after which video shows Phillips walking to the driver’s side of the SUV past Change. Phillips then “reaches back and to the side and casually fires another shot at the victim,” prosecutors said.

Before entering the vehicle, Phillips fired an additional shot at Change and drove off, they said.

Police identified Phillips from the surveillance video and from cellphone records that place him at the murder scene at the time of the shooting. Additionally, pod cameras tracked his vehicle from his home in Glen Ellyn to the scene at the time of the murder, prosecutors said.

About 90 minutes after the shooting, Phillips used that cellphone to call an automated parole check-in line, prosecutors said. Phillip’s parole agent subsequently identified him from surveillance video images taken just before and during the shooting, they said.

Phillips has a pending Cook County case on charges of delivery of a controlled substance, according to a state’s attorney spokeswoman.

His background includes a 2012 conviction as an armed, habitual criminal, for which he was sentenced to six years in prison and was out on parole before the latest charges. He also has a 2011 conviction for delivery of a controlled substance for which he was sentenced to three years in prison.

From 1992 to 2003 he was convicted of seven felonies, including possession of a controlled substance, delivery of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. For those convictions, he was sentenced to between one and eight years in prison.

Phillips is next set to appear in court May 4.