Tevin Lee Acquitted Of Firing Stray Bullet That Killed Shamiya Adams, 11, On West Side In 2014
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man was acquitted Wednesday night of the murder of 11-year-old Shamiya Adams, who was felled by a stray bullet while at a sleepover in West Garfield Park in 2014.
Tevin Lee, 24, was charged not long after the shooting with two separate counts of murder, and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm, in connection with Shamiya's death.
The Cook County State's Attorney's office confirmed that a jury found Lee not guilty of the murder at 8:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Shamiya was at a sleepover at a friend's house in the 3900 block of West Gladys Avenue, when a bullet went through an open window, and struck her in the head as she played with friends in a bedroom. She died the next morning at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Then-police Supt. Garry McCarthy said in 2014 Lee was trying to shoot rival gang members in retaliation for an earlier fistfight between two 14-year-old boys, one of whom was an acquaintance of Lee's. He said Lee spotted rival gang members standing in front of the home where Shamiya was attending a sleepover, and opened fire on them, but missed, and a stray bullet killed Shamiya.
But published reports said at trial, Lee said he had lied to police about being at the scene and firing the shots, and implicated that a friend of his had done it.
The next steps were not immediately clear.
