5 people charged for 1st degree murder of their friend

Not sure if this story hit anywhere outside of the Chicago area, but a group of teens ages 14 to 18 were attempting to steal a car.  The owner of the house came out after he saw headlights in his driveway, and he brought his gun...as you do...and he claims the 14 year old lunged at him with a knife which the homeowner thought was a gun, so he shot him in the head.  The rest of the crew picked up their dying friend and threw him in the car and they come upon a cop pulled over for another issue and they tell him that they have a kid who's been shot in the head.  The rest of the crew takes off, and a high speed chase ensues, while the 14 year old and another person he was with go to the hospital where the 14 year old is pronounced dead.  Now the other 5 people who were with the 14 year old have been charged with 1st degree murder.  I'm certainly aware of such laws where you can be charged with murder if you're part of a crime that results in someone dying, but I really think the way it's applied here in Illinois (and probably most other places) is wrong.  I'm all in favor of the mob who's going to rob a bank and one guy is the getaway driver, and his pal goes into the bank and things get out of hand the the pal ends up shooting and killing the bank teller, I think all members of the crew should be charged with armed robbery, murder, etc.  Throw the book at them.  But I don't agree with a scenario by which a member of the group is killed and his pals are charged with his murder since he died in the commission of a crime.  That kid was there of his own free will, and he certainly knew it could be dangerous and even deadly.  I'd feel pretty comfortable suggesting that had the kid had an opportunity to weigh in on what happened to the rest of his friends/relatives that he would say he wanted them charged with his murder.   I just don't like when they use that law this way.  Similarly, I don't think a friend should be charged with manslaughter (or whatever the charge) if he's drunk driving with his friend in the car...a friend who drank as much as the driver...and they get in an accident and the friend dies.  That friend certainly knows he was risking his safety getting in that car.  He had a choice.  Other drivers on the road have no choice when they're hit by drunk drivers, and those should be prosecuted, and the driver surely should have **some** charge in the accident that resulted in his friend's death...driving under the influence, etc. but not murder or manslaughter as the dead friend had totally free will.  I seem to recall many years ago that a local news anchor, Randy Salerno, died in a snow mobile accident and his friend was arrested and charged with his death and Randy's family came to the defense of the friend, because they knew Randy would never have wanted his friend held liable.  

I really thing that if people are going to be charged with murder when they didn't actually commit the murder then we need to limit those cases to situations where the victim was NOT part of the group who was committing the crime together.

Murder charges dropped against the rest of the people involved in this tragedy.  Heard that the Lake County prosecutor took a lot of heat for charging the other 5 with murder.  

In my original rant, I meant to make another distinction between this case and one in which someone is the driver in a bank robbery.  In that example, the criminals are the ones who killed someone.  I also don't care for charges being filed against the criminals when one of them dies at the hands of the alleged victims.  I guess that is somewhat in line with original rant in that the kid who was killed was a willing participant, but I've heard of such charges when the cop kills someone or other victim.  It's my understanding that they're already going to change the law in Illinois so it's used in cases like my bank robbery example.