Mother of slain Chicago Police Officer Aréanah Preston reacts to guilty plea, sentencing

CHICAGO (WLS) -- After one of the men charged in the murder Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston pleaded guilty and was sentenced Thursday, the mother of the slain officer is now speaking out.

Joseph Brooks is one of the four men accused of shooting Preston to death during a robbery in 2023.

On Thursday, Brooks, now 22, pled guilty to a first-degree murder charged. Cook County Judge Adrienne Davis sentenced him to 55 years in prison.

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Preston's mother, Dionne Mhoon, sat down with ABC7 just 24 hours after facing the man who pleaded guilty to killing her 24-year-old daughter.

"People describe it as justice. It's no justice," Mhoon said. "I never wanted to sit in a place where I want to trade my daughter's life for a young man to sit in jail for 55 years."

Officer Preston had just returned home from her shift, still in her uniform,

"It was chilling, but i was glad I got the opportunity to face him, face his family, tell him how I really felt," Mhoon said. "How they stole my child from me, how they violated my home, how they violated city of chicago her being a police officer, how they took so much of me for their greed i spoke of her, how she would've give them anything they needed that's they type of person she was."

It was May 6, 2023 just after 1 a.m., and Preston had just pulled up to her home in the Avalon Park neighborhood. Prosecutors say she was confronted by a group, part of a robbery spree that had stretched for hours across Chicago's South Side that night.

Brooks, now 22 years old, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He was sentenced to 55 years and must serve 100% of that time.

Preston's mom said she will carry on her daughter's passion for helping others. She loved being an officer, and was just days away from getting her master's degree with plans to join the FBI.

"It is just a horrific feeling walking into her room to see that gown that dress she anticipated wearing, that's hard for me," Mhoon said. "If there's one thing I can give another mother going through the same thing is hope, just keep on going for your baby."

READ ALSO | Prosecutors in murder of Aréanah Preston, Chicago police officer killed, ask for new judge

Trevell Breeland, Jakwon Buchanan and Jaylan Frazier are also facing charges in the murder.

All four suspects were charged with first-degree murder, as well as multiple counts of armed robbery, arson, burglary, possession of a stolen vehicle and unlawful use of a weapon.

SEE MORE | Chicago police shooting: 4 charged with murder of Officer Areanah Preston