Man charged with shooting, killing woman getting off party bus in Fuller Park, Chicago police say
Odeal Curley remembered as mother of 5, CPS Safe Passage worker
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A man was charged with killing a woman as she exited a party bus on Chicago's South Side earlier this month, police said.
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The shooting happened in the Fuller Park neighborhood near West 54th Place and South Shields Avenue around 12:40 a.m. on Oct. 18, Chicago police said.
Odeal G. Curley, 40, was getting off of the bus when someone inside took out a gun and fired shots, officials said.
Odeal Curley was rushed to University of Chicago Medical Center with gunshot wounds, where she died.
Demar King, 35, of Chicago was arrested hours after the shooting, Chicago police said.
He is facing multiple felony charges, including murder, aggravated fleeing, resisting a peace officer and multiple traffic violations.
Curley was on the bus celebrating her daughter's 25th birthday, family said.
One of the guests at her daughter's birthday party got into an argument, and she intervened, family said.
Police say King then pulled out a gun and shot her in front of her family and friends, outside her home.
It was Diamond King's birthday.
"I'm just numb. I don't know how to feel," she said.
Yellow ribbons and flowers cover the pole near the spot where Curley worked for years.
Her family said she was a longtime Safe Passage worker for Chicago Public Schools.
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"She was always there. She loved her job. I'm gonna miss my sister," brother Troy Curley said.
Curley says he was very close to his sister; he saw her almost every day.
He says the family is very close, and her death has been incredibly difficult.
She organized many of their family gatherings.
"She's a vibrant, funny person, goofy at times. She laugh at all my jokes," Curley said.
Her family has planted pink flowers and pinwheels in the front yard.
Pink was Curley's favorite color.
Odeal Curley leaves behind five children, ranging from 25 to 4 years old. Her family says this was a senseless murder over a minor argument.
If the suspect was not carrying a gun, she would still be alive, her family said.
Diamond King wants the suspect to pay.
"That he stay in there the rest of his life. It should be a life for a life," King said.
The family also created a GoFundMe for funeral expenses.
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