Woman who was shot in the back by Chicago bicyclist is paralyzed, court documents reveal

CHICAGO - There is a sad development in the shooting of a woman who was shot last week during her lunch break in Chicago.

The victim -- who was shot in the back by a man on a bicycle in the Fulton River District -- is paralyzed. That information comes from court documents for the two men accused of illegally buying the gun used in the shooting.

Police believe the suspect, Michael Blackman, was angry that he had been fired as a Jimmy John's deliveryman after complaints from the building security where the woman worked.

The same gun used to shoot the woman was also used to shoot a Chicago police officer who was attempting to arrest Blackman in the Englewood neighborhood.

Two Minneapolis residents were federally charged Thursday with illegally buying the gun that was used in the shootings of the Chicago police officer and the woman walking in the Fulton River District last week, as well as another shooting that took place in Minnesota.

Sequana Cigolo, 38, and Jason Lynndrotti Winston, 48, are each charged with straw purchasing a firearm, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. Winston is also charged with aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm.

Investigators with the St. Paul and Chicago divisions of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives learned the pistol recovered during Blackman’s arrest was purchased by Cigolo on July 11 at Bill’s Gun Shop in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, prosecutors said.

During an interview with investigators, Cigolo admitted to buying the gun for Winston, her ex-boyfriend’s cousin, because he was a felon and couldn’t buy it himself, prosecutors said. He paid her about $250 for the gun.

Winston later gave the gun to someone who was charged with shooting Cigolo’s brother on July 28 in Minneapolis, according to prosecutors.

The ballistics from the Minneapolis shooting matched those in the Sept. 18 shooting of the woman in the 200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue and the Sept. 21 shooting of a CPD officer trying to arrest Blackman near 64th Street and Bell Avenue, according to prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney’s office did not specify how the gun ended up in Chicago or in Blackman’s possession.

Cigolo and Winston were expected to make their initial court appearances Thursday afternoon in Minnesota.

45-year-old Michael Blackman