An 18-year-old man was charged Thursday with the June double murder of a mother and her five-year-old son in the South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood, but remains hospitalized due to injuries he suffered in a separate shooting less than 24 hours after the murder, police said.
Antonio Lewis, of the 5500 block of South Winchester Avenue, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, according to police News Affairs.
Five-year-old Sterling Sims and his mother Chevonne Brown, 31, were shot inside a house in the 5300 block of South Winchester Avenue about 2:40 a.m. June 28, police said.
Lewis attempted to shoot Brown’s second son, an 11-year-old, when his weapon malfunctioned, police said.
Relatives said Brown lived with her mother until about three months ago when she moved in with a boyfriend who lives on the block where the murders occurred.
Doris Sims, the boy’s paternal grandmother, called Sterling “a really nice kid.”
She said her daughter was a dedicated mother who put her children first.
“She loved her kids,” Doris Sims said. “Anytime you’d see her she was with her kids.”
About 9:10 p.m. the same day, Lewis was shot in the groin, back and neck while standing on a sidewalk in the 2800 block of West Arthington Street, authorities said. He was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
Lewis remains hospitalized and will not appear in bond court, police said.
He was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance in December 2012, records show.
A month before, he was also was arrested on another drug charge, unlawful use of a weapon and not having a firearm owner ID card.
--Sun-Times Media Wire, Sun-Times