CHICAGO (AP) 鈥 A Chicago father has been convicted of attempting to kill three people to avenge the slaying of his 9-year-old son who was lured from a playground into an alley with the promise of a juice box by rival gang members in 2015 and shot.
A jury deliberated several hours Wednesday before finding Pierre Stokes, 33, guilty of attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and a gun charge, according to the Chicago Tribune.
He was accused of shooting and wounding the girlfriend of one of the men responsible for his son's death and her two adult nephews in 2016.
the shooting was the result of a feud between the Bang Bang Gang/Terror Dome faction of the Black P Stones and the Killa Ward faction of the Black Gangster Disciples, which Stokes allegedly belonged to.
According to prosecutors, Dwright Boone-Doty and Corey Morgan believed Stokes鈥 faction was responsible for an October 2015 shooting that killed Morgan鈥檚 25-year-old brother and wounded his mother. Initially, the plan was to kill Tyshawn Lee's grandmother to send a message to Stokes before the boy was targeted, prosecutors said.
in the boy's slaying. Morgan was convicted and sentenced to 65 years in prison. Doty was convicted and sentenced to 90 years, while Edwards, the getaway driver, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a 25 years in prison.
Prosecutors alleged during a 2016 bond hearing that Doty told other inmates that he shot Tyshawn and considered cutting off the boy's fingers and ears, the Tribune reported.
Stokes later approached Morgan's girlfriend, Robyn Matthews, at a South Side gas station and shot her and her nephews.
Assistant State鈥檚 Attorney Melanie Matias told the jury during closing arguments in Stokes鈥 trial that 鈥渧igilante justice is not justice.鈥
But Assistant Public Defender Celeste Addyman argued that saying Matthews' shooting "is a retaliatory shooting for Tyshawn鈥檚 death doesn鈥檛 make sense.鈥
鈥淭his happens four or five months later," she said.
