Young mother killed, man shot in driveway in Dolton
DOLTON, Ill. (WLS) -- Police said they are looking for who is responsible in a shooting that killed a young mother and wounded a man in south suburban Dolton.
Police said one or two gunmen opened fire on DeArrea Haymond, 19, and Brendan Hudson, 25, while they were sitting in a car in a driveway near E. 153rd and Irving around 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Two dozen shell casings were found at the scene and three gunshots appear to have been fired directly into the passenger and driver-side windows. Haymond, the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, was killed and Hudson was seriously injured.
"I was home. I hear the doorbell ringing and when I rushed out to the door, my son was on the ground and he's saying "Mama, I've been shot," said Colleen Hudson, Brendan's mother.
"She was a beautiful, young lady. She was trying to get a life started for her and her baby and make a future," said Dalena Ingram Grant, Haymond's mother.
Hudson's family said he was shot at least three times in the knee, stomach and side of his head, but is expected to survive. He remains in critical condition at Stroger Hospital.
"I just hope they find who did it. I hope they find justice for my baby because she didn't deserve that," Grant said. "She was not targeted for any reasons. She stayed home and dealt with her baby."
Grant said Haymond worked to support her daughter and planned to go back to school to earn her GED.
"I'm feeling terrible. Real bad. I'm feeling so bad for that mother that lost her child," Colleen Hudson said.
Brendan Hudson's father said he doesn't know who would want to hurt his son. One community pastor believes Hudson was the intended target.
"They're using a new term now called 'zeroing someone out.' What I understand from the community is that he understood that someone said that it was time for him to be 'zeroed out' and it was carried out," said Pastor William Fleshman, Abundant Living Christian Center.
Police said they have interviewed a number of witnesses in the neighborhood.
"We don't have a motive. We are investigating all leads. We have several angles that we are looking at, and there may be a possibility that there are one to two people that we're looking at," said Dolton Police Chief Robert Collins Jr.
"It was intentional and it was senseless. This was a targeted murder. This was a murder that was plotted and planned," Fleshman said.
Dolton police said the shooting is being "heavily investigated" and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force and Cook County Sheriff's Department are assisting in the investigation.
