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Chicago police have arrested and charged three additional suspects in the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old who stood up to a group of robbers to save his twin brother.

A fourth suspect was charged over the weekend in the shooting of Demario BaileyCarlos Johnson, 17, was ordered held without bail during a Monday hearing.

The three — two of them 17 and one just turned 16 — were charged Monday afternoon as adults with first-degree murder, attempted robbery with a firearm and robbery, according to a police statement.  Deafro Brakes, 17, his brother Tarik Brakes, 16, and Isiah Penn, 17, were expected to appear in Cook County bond court on Tuesday.

Demario and his twin Demacio were on their way to the latter twin’s basketball practice at Johnson College Prep when they were approached by the four suspects. According to police, the robbers told the brothers to “give it up” and started going through their pockets.

During the struggle, Demario yelled “get off my brother,” pushing Johnson away. Another robber pulled out a gun and shot the teenager in the chest. Demario was pronounced dead at the scene.

The three other suspects were taken into custody at their homes within several blocks from each other on the South Side on Sunday afternoon, according to police reports.

During the hearing for Johnson, prosecutors said Johnson and others had been involved in two other armed robberies minutes earlier in the same viaduct. But prosecutors stopped short of saying Johnson fired the shot that killed Demario.

Saturday was one of the few times the “inseparable” brothers were allowed to walk in the South Side streets alone, according to their grandmother, Bernice Fitzpatrick.

“Our children have always been dropped up and picked up and escorted,” Fitzpatrick told the Tribune. “They were starting to say, ‘Ma, we can do things on our own.’

“We promised them we would give them a little more freedom,” Fitzpatrick said. “We let them go for one month. I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now.”

Fitzpatrick called her grandson “honorable.”

“Demario was an excellent child, all my grandchildren are … just honorable children,” she said. “That’s how they were raised. They were raised to be good children.”

Just two days after seeing his brother die, Demacio insisted he play basketball in a Monday night game to honor his twin.

“He said, ‘Mama, Issy would want me to play ball,’ ” the boys’ mother Delores Bailey told reporters during the Johnson College Prep game, referring to her slain son Demario by his nickname.

“He said, ‘I’m going to live for my brother, Mama. I’m going to go to the pros,'” Bailey said in a hoarse voice.

Demario did not play basketball like his brother, but the two were inseparable and Demario would accompany Demacio to practices, the family said.

Demario leaves Demacio and two other brothers — a 3-year-old and a 19-year-old brother who studies at Northeastern Illinois University — behind. The twins were set to celebrate their 16th birthday this week. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Bailey family during this difficult time.

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune | VIDEO SOURCE: News Inc.

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