Man convicted in execution-style killing of Chicago Chinatown grandfather

A Chicago jury on Thursday found a man guilty of first-degree murder in the execution-style killing of a 71-year-old grandfather in Chinatown nearly four years ago.

Catch up: Woom Sing Tse was walking to buy a newspaper in his afternoon routine on Dec. 7, 2021, near 23rd Place and Princeton Avenue in Chinatown when Alphonso Joyner, then 23, opened fire. According to prosecutors, Joyner first fired seven shots from inside his car, then drove closer and fired several more rounds. He drove into oncoming traffic, got out of his car and walked up to Tse, who had collapsed. He stood over Tse and fired eight more shots at close range, followed by one final round, before walking back to his car and driving away.

Joyner fired a total of 26 shots, with investigators recovering 20 spent casings at the scene and six more on his windshield. Nothing was stolen as Tse’s wallet remained in his pocket. Locals immediately shared security camera footage with police, leading to Joyner’s arrest one hour later on the Kennedy Expressway with a loaded ghost gun in his car.

A swift deliberation: The trial commenced Wednesday with prosecutors presenting physical evidence, including residential surveillance footage and the nine-millimeter handgun seized from Joyner’s vehicle. Illinois State Police forensic scientist Stephanie Plazibat testified that DNA testing produced “very strong support,” the strongest likelihood possible, that Joyner’s DNA was on the weapon. Defense attorneys, on the other hand, countered that the evidence was purely circumstantial without direct eyewitnesses. After approximately 90 minutes of deliberation, jurors returned a guilty verdict, ending years of court delays that had prolonged the family’s grief. Tse’s daughter, Carina Set, told WGN, “This doesn’t bring my dad back, but it gives us a little peace that we are going to be OK.”

Why this matters: Tse had immigrated to the U.S. from China as a young man with little money, worked as a cook, built restaurants in Chicago’s suburbs and raised three children and nine grandchildren. “This senseless act of violence robbed Woom Sing Tse’s family of a beloved and doting grandfather, and it traumatized the entire Chinatown community,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said in a statement. Yet the outcome also demonstrates community power: that when neighbors swiftly aided police and the family fought for nearly four years, they achieved justice even without prosecutors ever establishing a motive.

Joyner, now 27, returns to court Nov. 19 for sentencing, where he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.