Family still seeking charges nearly year after killing of assistant principal in Loop high-rise

Nearly a year ago, Abnerd Joseph was fatally shot in his Loop condo building while having an apparent mental episode.

Relatives of the assistant principal said Monday they can't believe the neighbor, who allegedly admitted to the shooting, hasn't been charged.

"Why has the man who admitted to shooting my brother still not been charged in 347 days?" asked sister Jeanna Kelley.

Lawyers for the family revealed new details about the killing of Joseph, a 32-year-old Atlanta native, on Sept. 14, 2023.

Joseph had recently switched medications which could have possibly triggered the episode he had in the hallway before he was shot, attorney Jason J. Friedl said.

An updated lawsuit also names a new defendant: the building's homeowners association. Attorney Antonio Romanucci said it was added as a defendant to determine if the HOA has bylaws that played a part in building security allegedly escorting the armed resident to Joseph.

It was also revealed that Joseph that six of the seven shots fired at Joseph struck his body, according to Friedl.

According to the civil lawsuit filed by the family in May, Joseph was killed in the 48th-floor hallway of The Legacy at Millennium Park at 60 E. Monroe St., where Joseph and the alleged shooter both lived.

Joseph was knocking on doors and asking for help when the neighbor, who had a gun in his pants, was escorted by building security to him, according to the lawsuit. After a confrontation, the neighbor allegedly shot and killed Joseph.

Friedl wants prosecutors to decide whether to charge the alleged shooter before Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx leaves office at the end of the year.

Joseph was allegedly wearing only boxers when he was shot, calling into question whether he could have been considered dangerous enough to require deadly force, Romanucci said.

The shooter "either used unjustified force or he didn't. [Joseph's] family deserves some sort of closure," Romanucci said.

The Cook County state's attorney's office said the investigation is ongoing.