Chicago shooting: Man, 24, charged with murder of girl, 7, on NW Side
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 24-year-old man is charged with murder in the fatal Chicago shooting of a 7-year-old girl in Belmont Central in August.
Aireon Luster is charged with murder for the death of Serenity Broughton, and with attempted murder for the injuries sustained by her 6-year-old sister Aubrey.
The sisters' father said his family had stopped by to visit relatives in the 6200-block of West Grand Avenue after Sunday church services on August 15. They had wrapped up their visit just before 3 p.m., and were going to pick up food and head home -- with the girls already in the car -- when someone drove by and opened fire.
"They shot her in her heart. She didn't even get a chance to fight," Michael Broughton, the girls' father, said.
Aubrey was struck in the chest and right armpit, and was hospitalized in critical condition, though she later stabilized.
CPD Superintendent David Brown said Luster was taken into custody Wednesday in the basement of his grandmother's home in suburban Riverside. He is due in bond court Thursday.
This is actually the second time police have arrested Luster in this case; the first time they were forced to release him when the State's Attorney's Office declined to file charges, saying they needed more evidence.
The case put police and prosecutors at odds. The district commander sent an internal email to staff saying he was extremely proud of the work done on the case, and that the case should have been charged. It was not immediately clear what, if any, new evidence investigators gathered.
"It's the same person. What's changed is we work together to get the person charged," said Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan.
Serenity's family is just relieved the case is moving forward with someone charged in her death.
Brown said he hopes the charges can be the beginning of giving the family "some measure of closure" in the death of their daughter.
