Dakotah Earley shooting: Second person being questioned in vicious armed robbery
CHICAGO - A second person is being questioned in connection to the shooting of Dakotah Earley in Lincoln Park last year.
Chicago police have already charged Tyshon Brownlee, of Oak Park, in the vicious armed robbery and shooting,
Police say Brownlee was part of a crew that could be responsible for more than 20 armed robberies on the city’s North Side.
"We have five innocent victims and a community that has been terrorized," said Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx at a news conference last year. "This is simply unacceptable."
Brownlee was charged in the shooting and in four other robberies in the area over a span of two days.
Brownlee was charged with four counts of armed robbery with a firearm, armed robbery with the discharge of a firearm, and attempted first-degree murder.
Prosecutors say Brownlee confessed to the crime spree when taken into custody at his home.
Police say Brownlee confronted 23-year-old Dakotah Earley with a gun on May 6, 2022, near the Depaul campus in the 1300 block of West Webster Avenue. Brownlee allegedly took Earley's cell phone and got into a struggle with the victim. Brownlee then shot Earley three times, twice in the back and once in the neck, police said.
"Defendant Brownlee then took the handgun, pointed it at victim five and shot him," said Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy, reading from a proffer outside bond court last year. "Defendant then paused and shot victim five again while victim five was lying on the ground."
Earley was initially put on life support but has progressed in his recovery.
Police said it turns out that Brownlee was shot himself just four days after he shot Earley. It happened near "The Bean" in Millennium Park. But police said Brownlee hustled out of Stroger hospital when it became clear detectives were closing in on him for the robbery spree.
Brownlee was identified after a detective spent countless hours studying surveillance video.
Earlier this year, lawyers for Earley filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago naming former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and former Supt. David Brown as liable parties in the shooting.
He has had 13 surgeries since the shooting and part of his left leg was amputated because of the shooting.
Earley’s jaw was wired shut as doctors treated his wounds, and he was unable to speak for two months. He left the ICU at Illinois Masonic Medical Center last June and was taken off dialysis.
He moved to Chicago in 2021 after finishing culinary arts school in Maryland.
Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.