Written by Mitch Smith at New York Times.com
The police said on Sunday that two brothers, both felons on parole, were trying to shoot a driver last week when their gunshots fatally struck Nykea Aldridge, a young mother pushing a stroller on a nearby sidewalk.
The fatal shooting itself was tragically common here in Chicago, where 441 people had already been killed this year as of Aug. 21. But Ms. Aldridge’s death has gained widespread attention both because she was an innocent bystander with a stroller and because she was the cousin of the N.B.A. star Dwyane Wade.
The Chicago police quickly arrested two men in connection with Ms. Aldridge’s death, and announced charges against them on Sunday. The suspects, Darwin Sorrells Jr. and his younger brother, Derren Sorrells, each face charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
Police investigators said the men, ages 26 and 22, did not mean to shoot Ms. Aldridge, but were instead trying to shoot a driver who had traveled with women to Chicago’s South Side from the suburbs.
Ms. Aldridge, 32, who lived just down the street from where she was shot on Friday, died later that day at a hospital from multiple gunshot wounds. The child in the stroller Ms. Aldridge was pushing, said to be one of her four children, was unharmed and taken in by relatives, the police said.
“I’m frustrated, you should be frustrated, all Chicagoans should be frustrated,” Superintendent Eddie Johnson of the Chicago Police Department said on Sunday at a news conference.
In trying to tamp down violent crime, Superintendent Johnson has repeatedly urged stiffer sentences for certain violent criminals. Illinois prison records show that both Sorrells brothers are convicted felons who had been released early on parole.
Darwin Sorrells Jr. was sentenced to six years on gun and stolen property charges in 2013, but was placed on parole in February. Derren Sorrells was sentenced to six years in prison in 2012 for having a stolen car, but had been paroled on Aug. 12, two weeks before the shooting of Ms. Aldridge.
“This reprehensible act of violence is an example of why we need to change the way we treat habitual offenders in the city of Chicago,” Superintendent Johnson said. “When will enough be enough?”
Gun violence in Chicago, an issue that has plagued the city for decades, has taken on greater urgency this year. Officers are coping with a murder rate that is up roughly 50 percent from that of last year, as well as turmoil within their ranks and controversy about police shootings.
To continue reading this article, click here.
