It was supposed to be a night of celebration but instead it ended in tragedy, said prosecutors Tuesday as the trial over the 2020 killings of two men during an apparent robbery in Chinatown got underway at the Leighton Criminal Court building.
Family and friends of Huayi Bian, 36, and Weizhong Xiong, 38, filled the gallery in the courtroom of Cook County Judge Neera Walsh.
Alvin Thomas, 25, is accused of fatally shooting Bian and Xiong in a parking lot near Tan Court and Wells Street around 2:10 a.m. on Feb. 9, 2020 — just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns began.
Thomas, who sat quietly next to his lawyer, is facing two counts of first-degree murder. He has been held in jail since his arrest the day of the shooting.
“It was supposed to be a night of celebration but instead it ended in tragedy,” prosecutors said during the trial.
On the second day of the trial, which began Monday, Xiong’s wife, Hong Li Yang, testified in front of the jury.
Xiong and Yang had gone out to dinner with Bian, whom they were staying with, to celebrate the Chinese Lantern Festival. They had just parked in the lot of an apartment complex when Thomas confronted them, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Thomas approached the car and shot Xiong multiple times as he was getting out of the passenger seat. Yang testified that she heard the gunfire just after stepping out of the driver’s seat, ducked down and crawled under a nearby vehicle, where she saw her husband lying motionless beside their car.
Thomas then struggled with Bian and fired several more shots, killing him as well, prosecutors said.
During her testimony, Yang said she believed the incident was a robbery because she had asked her husband to grab her purse before they got out of the vehicle but no longer saw the bag after the shooting. Later, police informed her that the purse had been found inside her car.
Thomas, who pleaded not guilty, had approached the group to ask for help and money for a train ride, according to his attorney, Saani Mohammed.
Police officers found Thomas shortly after the shooting wearing bloody white sneakers and carrying a handgun. The blood stains on the sneakers matched one of the men’s blood and the bullets in the handgun matched the bullets who killed them, prosecutors said.
Thomas was on probation for two other robbery convictions at the time of the shooting, prosecutors said.
The trial was scheduled to continue Wednesday.
