Lincoln Park shooting suspect Josalyn Fowler called 911 to throw police off her trail, prosecutors say
The woman charged with murder in the shooting death of a 28-year-old man in Lincoln Park last week called 911 to try to throw police off her trail, prosecutors said.
Josalyn Fowler, 25, appeared in court Friday morning on two counts of murder and one count of attempted armed robbery, both felonies, for the fatal shooting of Kevin Patel on Lill Avenue.
According to prosecutors, Fowler and her cousin were walking along Lill Avenue they passed Patel walking in the opposite direction, who had a backpack.
Prosecutors said after passing him, Fowler stopped and turned back toward Patel, approached him from behind and tried to pull on his backpack. When he wouldn't let her, a physical struggle ensued, and Fowler allegedly shot Patel in the chest.
She and her cousin then fled the scene. Prosecutors said the shooting was captured on nearby home surveillance video, and was seen or heard by multiple witnesses.
According to prosecutors, after running from the scene Fowler then called 911 and told police she had witnessed a shooting and that the offenders had fled in the opposite direction she had in an effort to throw investigators off her trail.
Prosecutors said based on the description witnesses gave them, police were able to track Fowler and her cousin traveling together from the scene of the shooting to the CTA Fullerton Red Line stop. Prosecutors said that video shows Fowler with her left hand in her pants pocket while using the phone with her right hand.
Police were able to match Fowler's phone number with the 911 call about the shooting in which she allegedly told dispatchers the suspects ran away in the opposite direction.
Fowler was positively identified by people who knew her as the woman seen on that footage, prosecutors said, at which time she and her cousin were taken into custody for questioning.
At the time of her arrest, police said she had a gun in her backpack that prosecutors said was matched with ballistic evidence from the Lill Avenue shooting.
Prosecutors said Fowler's cousin also identified her as the person who shot Patel.
Fowler was ordered to remain in custody until her trial.
Patel's family was not in court.
