A stray bullet that killed a mother last month as she stood in a Southwest Side cellphone store with her two children had been intended for a group of rival gang members, prosecutors announced at a court hearing for the accused shooter Tuesday.
Authorities said 23-year-old Bryant Mitchell admitted he fired the shots on April 26 during a video-recorded interview with detectives after his arrest last weekend.
Mitchell allegedly told the detectives that he hadn’t intended to kill 36-year-old Candice Dickerson, saying “this wasn’t for the lady” and that “she was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” according to Cook County prosecutors.
Mitchell looked back frequently into the courtroom’s gallery when he appeared at the hearing Tuesday afternoon on a first-degree murder charge. At one point he tried to speak for himself, but was shushed twice by the assistant public defender who was representing him.
Mitchell, who also faces three counts of attempted first-degree murder, was ordered held without bail as the case continues.
A second man has been charged Tuesday in the shooting.
Marco Zabala, 24, is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder in the April 26 slaying of Dickerson, Chicago police and authorities said.
Just before the shooting, Mitchell and two friends — all reputed members of the Satan Disciples street gang — watched a Chrysler sedan occupied by three men pull into a parking lot to sell marijuana.
Surveillance video recorded Mitchell walking to the parking lot and “false flagging” the occupants of the Chrysler by flashing a Latin King Crown gang sign, prosecutors said. Mitchell and his friends can then be seen in an alley tracking the Chrysler’s movements as it drove off.
As the Chrysler was at 59th and Troy streets, Mitchell and his friends ran south on Troy toward 59th, prosecutors said. Mitchell then allegedly pointed a gun at the Chrysler and fired four shots.
One shot shattered the rear window of the Chrysler and two others struck a nearby ambulance, but but did not injure anyone, prosecutors said.
The fourth, however, went through the window of the MetroPCS store at 5900 S. Kedzie Ave. and struck Dickerson in the head.
Dickerson, who lived a few blocks away from where she was shot, was a “committed and beloved” pharmacy technician at Norwegian American Hospital, a spokesperson for the hospital said. She was also a single mother of three sons — ages 10, 12 and 17.
Dickerson was shopping with her two youngest sons when she was struck, prosecutors said. She was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead.
An 18-year-old man who was in the Chrysler contacted police the following day and cooperated with the investigation and identified Mitchell in a photo, prosecutors said. The two other men in the sedan — both 21 — also allegedly identified Mitchell as the shooter.
Prosecutors said detectives recovered surveillance videos — some of which clearly show Mitchell’s face and others that identify him by his clothing — “from all over the area,” which allowed them to track Mitchell’s movements.
He was taken into custody Saturday and charges were approved Monday, officials said.
An assistant public defender for Mitchell said he was currently in school to get his commercial driver’s license and had been working as a general laborer during his hearing Tuesday.
Judge David Navarro noted the charges could lead to a life sentence for Mitchell if he’s convicted. His next court date was set for May 22.
Contributing: David Struett
