Chicago police questioning person of interest in shooting death of 7-year-old Serenity Broughton
CHICAGO - Chicago police tell FOX 32 they are questioning a person of interest in a shooting that killed a 7-year-old girl and injured her 6-year-old sister last month on the Northwest Side.
The Chicago Tribune reports police have a person in custody for the August 15th shooting. So far, we do not have a name or charges.
Serenity Broughton and her little sister Aubrey were shot while sitting inside a car getting ready to go to dinner. It happened shortly before 3 p.m. on a Sunday outside the girls’ grandparents’ house on West Grand Avenue.
Serenity died from bullet wounds to her chest and torso. Aubrey was hit in the chest and armpit, but survived.
Police have not released a motive yet for the shooting.
Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said Chicago police are working with the Cook County states attorney’s office to bring charges but couldn’t give any details.
"They’re obviously in custody for the specific incident," Deenihan said at a Friday evening news conference. "I don’t want to give out the details of what they may be responsible for regarding that. They’re not charged at this time."
Deenihan said the person was taken into custody approximately "a day and a half ago" and they are "coming down to the wire" for bringing those charges before they must release the person. Deenihan said they believe there are more people involved with the shooting and are working to arrest them as well.
Neither the girls nor their mother were intended targets, police said.
Activists speak out after 7-year-old girl killed, sister wounded in shooting
Serenity Broughton, 7, died from the gunshot wounds she suffered to her chest and torso. Her sister, identified by family as 6-year-old Aubrey Broughton, was "fighting for her life" at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.
Regina Broughton, the girls’ grandmother, said the sisters were very close and that "Serenity enjoyed her sister Aubrey the most."
"Serenity enjoyed just about everything except being told no," Regina Broughton said in a text message at the time. "She had the potential to be anything she wanted to be. But she was a child. And her baby sister is missing her and doesn’t understand why her big sister ‘Honey,’ as she calls her, isn’t coming home."
A health care worker, known by Belmont Central residents as "Dr. Lou," was treating patients when he heard a loud vibration that sounded like a drill going through a ceiling.
When he heard the screams that followed, he ran outside and saw two girls with gunshot wounds lying on the grass.
Lou, who didn’t want his full name used, immediately checked the older girl’s breathing, felt for a pulse and then grabbed her hand, repeatedly telling her, "It’s going to be OK."
"I just wanted her to be aware in case she was still conscious that someone was really caring for her while she was dying. I did not want her to … did not want her to feel she was dying alone," Lou said, his voice quivering.
"And the truth is she did not make it. And I feel sorry I could not do more."
Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.