SKOKIE, IL — Two teenagers from Waukegan are accused of murdering a 20-year-old Maine Township man during an armed robbery last week in Niles and dumping his body nearby, authorities said.

Both teens — a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old — have been charged with first-degree murder, one as an adult and one as a juvenile, according to Cook County prosecutors and sheriff's police. Another person who was with the duo has not been charged. Hussein "Alex" Damra, 20, of unincorporated Des Plaines, was found dead on the side of the road near Golf Road and Greenwood Drive by sheriff's police around 9:15 p.m. on Feb. 28, according to sheriff's police.

Prosecutors said the elder of the two Waukegan teenagers shot Damra in the back of the head in the parking lot of Golf Mill Center in Niles. The younger of the two boys facing murder charges had taken a parent's car without permission and brought along the shotgun used in the slaying, according to prosecutors. The teens' uncharged companion had arranged on social media to buy 5 pounds of cannabis from Damra, who they planned to rob at gunpoint, according to prosecutors. If Damra resisted, prosecutors alleged, the friends decided they would shoot him in the head.

Damra showed up at Golf Mill with a friend in his car and a .40 caliber Glock handgun hidden in his jacket, prosecutors said. But he was alone as he brought a black garbage bag containing 5 pounds of cannabis into a car with tinted windows — and three people that planned to rob him lying in wait. Prosecutors said Damra showed the trio he was armed and his gun was loaded with hollow-point bullets before putting his pistol away.

The Waukegan teens "kept the cannabis and refused to pay the money," according to Assistant State's Attorney Andreana Turano.







Cook County prosecutors said 20-year-old Hussein Damra was murdered in the parking lot of Golf Mill Center around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 28. (Street View) Christopher Mota, 17, was sitting in the rear driver's side seat, with Damra in the front passenger spot, as they argued, according to Turano. Mota confessed to pointing the shotgun at the back of Damra's head at close range and firing, Turano said in a petition seeking to deny bail. She told the judge both Mota and his juvenile co-defendant have confessed to their roles in the slaying.

Immediately after the fatal shot, the robber who has not been charged grabbed the black bag and took off running, the prosecutor said. Damra's friend heard the shot and saw someone running away from the car before it began to drive away.