Attorney for father of slain 7-year-old slams police, mayor

An attorney for Antonio Brown, the father of the 7-year-old boy shot and killed on the West Side last weekend, said Wednesday that her client wasn’t the intended target.

As Brown made a brief appearance at the George Leighton Criminal Courthouse for an unrelated gun case, his lawyer, Donna Rotunno, blasted Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy for saying last week that had Brown been in jail at the time of the shooting, his child would still be alive.

Rotunno told reporters that McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who also criticized Brown for not cooperating with police, have nothing to back up their claims.

“The mayor took the lead of a superintendent without really knowing all the facts, and now that the facts are coming out, it is very clear to the police department that my client was not the intended target of that shooting,” Rotunno said.

Rotunno declined to specify why she believes that to be the case.

The lawyer also praised Cook County Judge Erica Reddick, who is handling Brown’s gun case.

When Brown stepped into the tiny courtroom Wednesday morning, Reddick told him, “Good morning, sir. Sorry for your loss.”

“That was very human, very kind and very nice of her, and it was probably the first public official that’s done the right thing since this horrible tragedy,” Rotunno said.

Amari Brown was watching fireworks at his father’s home in Humboldt Park late Saturday when he was shot in the chest by a bullet that police have said was apparently meant for his father. Police have described Antonio Brown as a “ranking member” of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang.

Last week, Emanuel criticized Antonio Brown for not cooperating with police in helping solve his son’s shooting. But Rotunno said that’s simply not fair.

“My client is willing to work with [detectives],” Rotunno said. “The problem is, he doesn’t have a lot of independent knowledge. So the only thing he can go on are some of the things he hears, information that has been given to him, and we will do what is appropriate with that information.”

Police sources said detectives interviewed Brown on Sunday, but he did not offer any useful information then — and still hasn’t. Police continue to suspect he was the intended target, sources said.

Brown didn’t talk to reporters after he left the courthouse Wednesday, accompanied by his mother and other supporters.

The charges in the case include: aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, being an armed habitual criminal and felony possession of a firearm.