Bail was denied Wednesday for a woman accused of killing her ex-boyfriend’s daughter last weekend in Gresham in a shooting that was allegedly captured by a dash-mounted camera in a bystander’s car as they drove by.
Niquita Booker, 27, shot Kailah Bledsoe twice in the face on Sunday morning before also firing at Bledsoe’s boyfriend and father, who were not struck, Cook County prosecutors said in court.
Booker and Bledsoe, 22, had been at odds previously, and Booker believed the younger woman and her father had recently burglarized her apartment, which is located in the same building where Bledsoe and her father live, prosecutors said.
Bledsoe’s father had been taken into custody in connection with the burglary before the shooting but was ultimately released without charges, prosecutors said.
On the day of the shooting, Booker was driving her brother’s car with her brother seated in the passenger seat, prosecutors said. They allegedly picked up a third person, who hasn’t been identified, and went to a liquor store, prosecutors said.
The three then drove to Booker’s apartment in the 7600 block of South Morgan, where Booker saw Bledsoe and her boyfriend, 22, standing outside, prosecutors said. After hearing the argument, Bledsoe’s father, 49, who was Booker’s ex-boyfriend, also came outside to see what was going on.
Booker and Bledsoe “exchanged words” before Booker went to her car, pulled out a revolver and shot Bledsoe as she walked into an alleyway, prosecutors said. Booker then allegedly fired several more shots at Bledsoe’s father and her boyfriend.
Booker left in the car with her brother and drove to her mother’s home, prosecutors said. Bledsoe was later pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center, according to Chicago police.
A person who was driving in the area and recorded the shooting on their car’s dash-mounted camera later anonymously dropped the footage off at the Gresham District police station, prosecutors said.
Booker was subsequently charged with murder and attempted murder.
Booker works as an rides-hare driver and has three young children who she supports, an assistant pubic defender told Judge Barbara Dawkins, who denied Booker bail.
Dawkins set Booker’s next court date for Nov. 22.
