2 charged with gunning down man during robbery

Two men were charged with murder for allegedly gunning down a third man during an attempted robbery.

Elijah Watson, 20, and Anthony Francimore, 23, both were taken into custody Monday in connection with the slaying of 20-year-old Nathan Ballard.

About 1 a.m. Sunday, deputies were dispatched to Fox Street near Elgin Avenue to investigate a shooting.

When the deputies arrived, they found Ballard face-down in the roadway, motionless and surrounded by a crowd, police said.

East Joliet firefighters took Ballard to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, where he died.

A witness told deputies that the killers took off in a black Dodge Magnum with tinted windows, police said.

Detectives tracked the Magnum down in Chicago by 12:30 p.m. Monday, police said.

“With the assistance of the Chicago Police Department, surveillance was set up on the vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said.

By about 1:45 p.m., someone got into the car and drove off, police said.

Police said they pulled the car over and took Watson and Francimore into custody.

“Detectives would later learn that the suspects in this case intended on robbing [Ballard] and upon doing so and while driving away from the victim, several shots were fired in the vicinity of Ballard by Elijah Watson,” police said. “Ballard suffered a single gunshot wound to the upper chest, from what appears to be from a semi-automatic 9 mm handgun.”

Watson was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and unlawful use of a weapon. Francimore was charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery. Bond was set for each of them at $5 million.