GREATER GRAND CROSSING — A second teenager has been charged with murder in the death of Kyle Bickham, who was pushed from a moving Red Line train after getting into an altercation with a group on the train, according to police.
Katlar Parchman, 19, was charged with murder, aggravated battery and mob action in Bickham’s death, police announced Friday. She is the second person charged in the case; a 15-year-old girl was also charged with Bickham’s murder last week.
Bickham, 29, was riding on a Red Line train the afternoon of Sept. 7 when he got into a argument with fellow passengers, police said at the time.
During the argument, Bickham spat on Parchman and another person, prosecutors said at Parchman’s detention hearing Saturday, according to the Tribune. That caused Parchman, the 15-year-old girl and two males to assault Bickham.
Security footage on the train shows the group forcing Bickham to the rear of the train and out the emergency exit door, the Tribune reported. He fell from the train near 69th Street and struck the electrified third rail before being hit by an oncoming train, authorities said. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Kyle Bickham, 29, was killed after being pushed from a CTA train onto the electrified rail, according to authorities. Credit: Courtesy GoFundMe
Parchman was ordered held in jail pending a trial, the Tribune reported.
It is unclear if police have yet identified the other two suspects in the case. Bickham’s family has asked eyewitnesses and those with information to come forward.
Bickham, who was commuting home from work when he was killed, was an avid sports and video game fan who was remembered as a funny and loving family member, his relatives told Block Club previously.
“God gave me a gift,” Christopher Bickham Sr., Bickham’s father, said of his son. “He was great as a person, great as a kid and great as a man … there’s a special place in hell for the people that did this.”
Chris Bickham Jr. set up a GoFundMe last week to raise funds for Bickham’s funeral service, where he’s raised over $18,000 as of Sunday.
Charles Thrush contributed reporting.
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