An 18-year-old Sauk Village man charged with murdering another man earlier this month shot the victim in a dispute over a stolen iPhone, prosecutors said in Cook County court today.

Assistant State's Attorney Elena Gottreich said that the brother of Charles Bragg III was at a Marathon gas station in Sauk Village on Sept. 18 when he saw two men, one of whom he recognized as the person who stole his iPhone months earlier.

The brother went home to tell Bragg, and the two got in a car to look for the men, Gottreich said.

Bragg, who had brought a gun with him, went back to the gas station and asked the attendant which direction the two men had walked. Bragg then spotted the men on the street, told his brother to stop the car, and got out to confront the victims with his gun behind his back, Gottreich said.

Bragg asked one of the men if he was the same person who had stolen his brother's iPhone, Gottreich said, then fired several shots at the pair. Zonnie Johnson, 20, who lived in the 22400 block of Clyde Avenue in Sauk Village, was struck in the head and died the following day. The second man fled and was unharmed.

Johnson was the man that Bragg's brother had recognized as the man who stole the iPhone, prosecutors said.

Police arrested Bragg, of the 2100 block of 217th Street, on Sept. 27, after Cook County sheriff's police found him hiding in a basement in the 7700 block of South May Street in Chicago's Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, officials said.

Bragg was identified in surveillance video from the gas station and the second victim picked Bragg out of a photo array, Gottreich said. Bragg admitted to having a gun and shooting the victim in a video statement, Gottreich said.

Judge Laura Sullivan ordered Bragg held without bail. Bragg, who Gottreich said was on probation for residential burglary, faces a sentence of 25 years to life.

Bragg is scheduled to appear in court next on Oct. 2 in Markham.

cdrhodes@tribune.com

Twitter: @rhodes_dawn

