Chicago police on Sunday said they have arrested two brothers and charged them with the fatal shooting of basketball star Dwyane Wade’s cousin as she pushed a baby in a stroller, a murder that has stunned a city plagued by a surge in gang-related violence.
In a case that has emerged as a talking point in the US presidential race, Darwin Sorrells Jr., 26, and Derren Sorrells, 22, are facing charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder in the death of Nykea Aldridge, a 32-year-old mother of four, police said.
The brothers, described as “documented gang members,” are convicted felons who were out of prison on parole at the time of the shooting, police officials said at a Sunday press briefing.
Aldridge was hit when the suspects opened fire at the intended target, a driver of a car who told authorities he worked for Uber and was dropping off passengers.
In a briefing on Sunday, police did not say why the driver was targeted except to note that the man was from outside the area and appeared to have an exchange of words with the suspects.
One of the brothers was required to wear a monitoring device as a condition of his home confinement while on parole, except from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. when he was allowed to conduct personal business. It was during those hours that the shooting occurred, police said.
Darwin Sorrells was sentenced to six years in prison in 2013 on a gun charge but was “let out early,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Twitter on Sunday.
It was not clear whether the brothers had a lawyer. (Reuters)