Kenneth Merritt, one of two suspects accused of committing a violent carjacking in Beverly last month, turned and looked into the gallery as he walked into Judge Thomas J. Hennelly’s courtroom in Bridgeview Friday.

Looking back were two dozen neighbors of the Beverly family he allegedly robbed at gunpoint, some of whom had attended his pretrial detention hearing last month.

The turnout, organized by Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th, was an effort to show community support for the victims, Beverly resident Meg Massaro said.

“This type of crime can happen to anybody. If we don’t take a stand against these heinous and violent, repulsive acts, nothing gets changed,” she said.

Merritt, 26, and his co-defendant, Damarri Conner, 20, pleaded not guilty to the 20 felony counts each of them faces. The men are accused of holding Michele Pettiford and her husband, Jeff Pettiford, at gunpoint while robbing them and stealing the family’s 2012 Audi sedan.

Michele Pettiford had just pulled her car into her backyard garage after picking up her 12-year-old daughter from volleyball practice when she was attacked, her husband told the Tribune in November. Video of the armed robbery captured by surveillance camera drew widespread attention.

Two weeks after the first attack, the couple’s other car was stolen from in front of their house, apparently using keys that had been inside a purse stolen in the carjacking.

The Beverly neighbors who came for Friday’s hearing waited an hour and a half to watch the brief arraignment. When the case came up, they crowded into the small courtroom’s wooden pews, filling the seating area.

Massaro said she thought of her own grandchildren when she first heard of the carjacking. Video of the attack shows thieves shoving Michele Pettiford to the ground and holding at gunpoint the woman and her husband, who ran outside to help after hearing his daughter scream.

“I’m sure that was the only thing going on in their heads, they didn’t want anything to happen to their children. And yet, they’re all going to be traumatized for a very long time,” Massaro said.

Both defendants were ordered detained at an earlier hearing and will remain in custody. The two men will be represented by court-appointed public defenders, Hennelly said.

Prosecutors previously said Merritt’s face was clearly visible in surveillance footage tying him to the attack. Police found clothing in Conner’s closet identical to the outfit worn by the other assailant, who was masked in the video, prosecutors said.

Merritt, 26, has been convicted of five felonies, including for possession of a stolen car, armed robbery and burglary. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2017 and paroled in 2021, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.

Conner, 20, was awaiting trial on an aggravated use of a weapon charge when he allegedly robbed the Pettiford family.

The crime rate in Beverly is among the lowest in Chicago, according to Police Department data. The number of violent crime victims in Beverly is down 18% this year compared with the same period last year, though the total number of vehicular hijacking victims is up to 14 this year compared with 10 from the same period a year ago.

After Friday’s hearing, O’Shea met with members of the community to talk about what took place and tell them about attending the next scheduled court date, a video hearing set for Jan. 8.

Talking to reporters, O’Shea praised cooperation between police and Beverly residents. Nine officers involved in the arrest were named “Officers of the Month” at a ceremony Thursday hosted by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation.

The turnout from the neighborhood was intended not only to show support for the family but also send a message to the court, O’Shea later told reporters.

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“We want to see justice for this family,” he said. “However many court dates it takes, we will be here.”

Jeff Pettiford was out of town for work and unable to attend the hearing Friday, which had been rescheduled, he said. He commended his neighbors for supporting him and his family inside the courtroom and back at home.

“The community has been there from day one, and they still keep showing up,” Pettiford said. “I have no idea how we would be without it. It’s why we live where we live, the people around.”

The criminal justice process has been frustrating, he said. But he thinks the cooperation between police and residents in Beverly and the support he’s seen from his community could be an important way to combat crime.

“I don’t know what the answer is to the larger problem in Chicago and really the country,” he said. “But you’re looking at some of it.”

About a month and a half after the attack, the Pettifords are doing better, he said. But their recovery isn’t complete. The family had felt safe in the home they’ve lived in for 15 years, Pettiford said, but now his wife is afraid to go into their backyard at night.

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