Man charged with killing 15-year-old boy in West Town

Tremell Neloms was arrested Wednesday in Calumet City for the murder of Caleb Westbrooks Jan. 18 in the 800 block of North Greenview Avenue.

A man has been charged with fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy while he waited for a bus last month in West Town.

Tremell Neloms was arrested Wednesday in Calumet City for the fatal shooting of Caleb Westbrooks on Jan. 18 in the 800 block of North Greenview Avenue, Chicago police said.

Neloms, 18, approached the teen and opened fire, striking him in the chest and arm, police said. He was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.

Neloms was charged with first-degree murder, police said. He is expected to appear in bond court Thursday.

Chicago Police work the scene where a 15-year-old boy was critically wounded in a shooting in the 800 block of North Greenview Avenue, in the Noble Square neighborhood, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.

“Our world is shattered,” Westbrooks’ father, Corneal Westbrooks, said in statement after the shooting. “Caleb was a smart, vivacious and athletic teenager who was looking forward to a bright future with goals and dreams that now will go unfulfilled,”

Westbrooks was a freshman at Rauner College Prep, according to a post from the school’s principal.

He played football for the Garfield Park Gators and was a wide-receiver for the Illinois All Stars team, where he met head coach Neil Williams.

“He was a comedian,” Williams said. “I called him Sinbad because he reminded me of the comedian. But he didn’t have a clue who Sinbad was. He had to google it to figure out who he was. He was a fun kid.”