Chicago police believe that a series of gang-related shootings have led to several injuries as well as the death of one man’s brother and the death of a 9-year-old boy lured from a playground and executed in an alley. Now the father of the slain boy has been arrested after three people were shot in what police believe is a retaliatory shooting related to his son’s death.
According to police, the feud began around October 2015 when Corey Morgan’s brother was killed and his mother wounded in a shooting, 0the Chicago Tribune reports. Weeks later, authorities say, 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee was coaxed from a playground to an alley, where he was shot and killed. Chicago police arrested Morgan in connection with Tyshawn’s slaying. Then, on March 7, police arrested Dwright Boone-Doty, 22, and charged him with first-degree murder in Tyshawn’s death. Both men are awaiting trial.
A day after Doty’s arrest, police responded to a shooting in the city’s South Side, in which three people—two men and a woman—were shot. Pierre Stokes, Tyshawn’s father, was arrested Friday in connection with the shooting.
According to ABC 7 Chicago, a 29-year-old woman, believed to be Morgan’s girlfriend, suffered a graze wound to the face, a 31-year-old man was shot in the left forearm and a 30-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the right arm. Both men were treated at a local hospital and released; the woman refused medical treatment, the news station reports.
Stokes faces three felony counts of aggravated battery and one felony count of unlawful use/possession of a weapon.
“Mr. Stokes who was involved in a gang lifestyle, ultimately suffered an unspeakable loss with the calculated execution of his son,” Chicago police said in a statement Sunday. “Despite this, he continued to engage in the same gang activity that started this initial cycle of violence.”
Stokes is scheduled to appear in court Monday, ABC 7 reports.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune and ABC 7 Chicago.