Man gets 40 years in prison for shooting, killing 9-year-old girl in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood
A man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to shooting and killing a 9-year-old girl in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood in 2023.
Michael Goodman, 46, was sentenced by Cook County Criminal Court Judge Tyria Walton for the murder of Serabi Medina. Goodman was charged with first-degree murder in Serabi's death.
Goodman agreed to the 40-year sentence upon accepting a plea deal last month, the Medina family said.
Serabi's family said the thought of going through a trial and reliving the details of that day had been just too painful. Thus, they pushed hard to strike a plea deal they hoped would keep Goodman locked up for the rest of his life.
In August 2023, prosecutors say Serabi was outside her family's apartment building on Long Avenue south of Addison Street. Her father was talking to three friends sitting in a car, when one of the friends gave her money to get ice cream from a nearby ice cream truck.
A few minutes after she bought two ice creams, and gave one to her father, a gunshot rang out in Goodman's home, and Serabi's father told her to get her scooter and go back to their apartment. Prosecutors said Goodman then walked out of his apartment building across the street, holding a 9mm handgun.
Serabi's father and his friends saw Goodman walk up to his daughter, and he asked Goodman what he was doing, but Goodman ignored him and followed Serabi to the vestibule of her apartment building, and shot her in the head, according to prosecutors.
The attack was unprovoked.
Serabi's father tackled Goodman, and the shooter's gun went off as they both fell to the ground, and a bullet struck Goodman in the eye.
"It's evil, pure evil, and because of him my whole family knows what evil truly is," said cousin Jaleesa Medina.
Jaleesa Medina said Goodman wrote the family a letter from jail explaining his drug use and mental state at the time of the shooting. She did not respect that explanation.
