Drug Deal Led To Niles Murder, Cops Say

NILES, IL — Police say the man shot dead last week outside a Niles dollar store went there to carry out a drug deal with his murderer.

Billy Parker, who lived nearby Chicago's nearby Edison Park neighborhood, was found on the ground near the intersection of Harlem and Chase avenues on Feb. 25, police said.

Parker, 26, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 10 p.m. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office conducted an autopsy the following day and ruled his death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators from a north suburban homicide task force and local police determined that Parker had gone to an arranged location "to conduct a drug transaction," when he was repeatedly shot by a Niles resident.

Alexander Eleopoulos, 28, of the 7100 block of West Keeney Street, was taken into custody Monday and charged with first-degree murder.

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Eleopoulos made a statement to detectives that incriminated himself in the murder and a witness backed up the account of the incident, according to police.

At an initial court appearance Tuesday in Skokie, Cook County prosecutors filed paperwork to ask a judge to order Eleopoulos to be detained while awaiting trial.

But because Eleopoulos's court-appointed attorney did not have time to review prosecutors' petition, his detention hearing was pushed back 48 hours.

Eleopoulos will remain at the Cook County Jail until he is due back in court at Thursday morning.

Earlier: Man Shot Dead In Niles Sunday Night, Police Say