Mother testifies in trial of teen accused of firing shot that entered Chicago home, killed 7-year-old
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It was an emotional day Tuesday in Cook County Juvenile Court, as one mother was forced to relive the night her young son was killed by a stray bullet.
On Oct. 26, 2022, 7-year-old Akeem Briscoe was struck and killed by a single stray bullet while washing his hands in the bathroom of his family's home on Potomac Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
The stray bullet came from alleged gang gunfire in the alley behind the home.
The name of the teen on trial in Akeem's murder has not been made public, as he was a juvenile at the time of the shooting.
Akeem's mother, Deidra Misters, was the first person to take the stand in her son's murder case. The teen accused of the murder sat a few feet away as Misters wept - describing what she saw and heard that night as gunfire erupted outside her kitchen window.
She said the same thing in court that she said to the CBS 2 Investigators on camera last month.
"Everything just happened so fast," Misters said last month. "It was like pop, pop, pop. So I checked him. I'm like okay, I don't think he got hit," said Deidra. "Then he looked up at me, and he was like, 'Mom, I think I got shot'."
Witnesses say a dozen bullets were fired in an escalating fight behind the family's home. Somehow, the only person hit was Akeem. A single stray bullet found its way through the family's kitchen window and into the bathroom, striking the second-grader as he stood by the sink.
"I looked and I seen the hole in his shirt. He was shot in the stomach," Misters told CBS 2. "So I just start to hold the pressure on the wound. He didn't lose consciousness right away. He just kept trying to reassure me that he was okay. He was saying, 'I'm going to be OK, Mommy. I'm OK, Mommy.'"
Those would be the last words Misters would ever hear from her son.
Amid the trial Tuesday, there were tears throughout the courtroom - even the accused teen's mother started sobbing. Her son, 15 years old at the time, is now 17.
Prosecutors on Tuesday played body camera video of the first police sergeant on the scene. Akeem's family cried as they saw the video for the first time – as it showed his mother trying to save him by putting pressure on the wound.
A forensic expert will take the stand on Wednesday.
