Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Federal Indictment Charges Man With Murdering Chicago Teenager During Robbery
CHICAGO — A man has been charged in federal court with murdering a Chicago teenager during a robbery last fall.
DEANDRE NORELS JR., 20, of Chicago, is charged with one count of using a firearm to cause a murder, one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence, one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, and one count of robbery, according to an indictment returned Sept. 13, 2022, in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Norels and a co-conspirator allegedly murdered William McGee on the afternoon of Nov. 11, 2021, while carrying out a planned robbery of McGee on the South Side of Chicago. McGee, 18, was fatally shot near the 900 block of East 98th Street in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood.
The charges in the indictment are punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in federal prison and a maximum of death. Norels is currently detained in federal custody while awaiting trial. He has pleaded not guilty. A status hearing is set for Oct. 28, 2022, at 9:30 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin.
The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Kristen de Tineo, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Kramer and Margaret Steindorf.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.