CHICAGO _ While Chicago police detectives were zeroing in on two suspects in the fatal shooting of a woman who died protecting her baby, officers in downstate Champaign were already setting up surveillance at one of the suspect's homes in an unrelated drug case.
With two police departments closing in, it wasn't long before Michael Washington, 39, and Eric Adams, 23, were both taken into custody just hours after the brazen, daylight attack that killed Brittany Hill, 24, as she held her 1-year-old daughter Ja-Miley.
The child was unharmed as were three men who were with her in the North Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side.
Washington and Adams were charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and were denied bail Thursday by a judge who called the case "chilling, mind-boggling and utterly senseless." Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. noted that Washington was on parole for drug convictions and Adams was on probation for a gun offense.
Adams and Washington occasionally looked over their shoulder at their family and friends standing in the waiting area outside the courtroom. Adams gave a thumbs up to people waiting outside the courtroom as he was escorted out the courtroom, and Washington nodded his head and folded his arms in the shape of an "X."
Assistant State's Attorney James Murphy told the judge that police cameras clearly captured the license plate of the silver Chevrolet Impala used in the shooting, as well as the faces of Washington and Adams.
Murphy laid out details of the shooting as caught on camera:
Shortly before 9 a.m., Hill was holding her 1-year-old daughter and standing on the street, talking to the baby's father, who was sitting in a parked car. Two other men were with them. As they turned their attention to the approaching Impala, Hill shifted her daughter to her other arm.
Adams was driving the car and Washington was in the passenger seat.
The 1-year-old girl smiled and waved at both Adams and Washington as they drove by. Washington pointed a handgun out the passenger side window and began firing. Hill, still carrying her daughter, limped away before collapsing behind a parked car. "She was able to shield the child from further gunfire," Murphy said.
Adams stopped the car and both men got out and fired another round of shots down the street toward Hill.
Adams and Washington drove away, and the baby's father came back with a gun, jumped in a car and pursued them until he lost them in west suburban Oak Park, police said. Friends carried into another car and drove her to West Suburban Hospital, where she died around 9:25 a.m.
Chicago police detectives tracked the Impala's license plate to someone in Champaign. Investigators determined that Washington was previously stopped in the same Impala and matched his photo to one of the shooters in the video.
Detectives contacted Champaign police and learned officers that morning had just secured a drug-related search warrant for Washington's home. While conducting surveillance, they saw Washington driving the silver Impala seen in the video, Murphy said. Adams was in the front passenger seat.
The two parked the Impala and went into Washington's home, Murphy said. Six minutes later, they went back into the Impala and were arrested by Champaign police around 1:55 p.m. Tuesday.
When police searched Washington's house, they found 62 grams of cannabis, 1.4 grams of heroin, drug equipment, a ballistic vest and more than $1,300, Murphy said.
"The most egregious part the state tells me is that this little baby being held by her mother is waving at the car. Typically kids do that," Lyke said. "All of a sudden, the occupants of that car start sending metal bullets at those five people ... and leave this little baby motherless."
Murphy told the Tribune that prosecutors didn't have a motive but have ruled out Hill as the intended target. He also couldn't say why the suspects, who are from Urbana, were in Chicago. Murphy said the Impala had been in the Chicago area for at least a week.
Lyke scheduled the next court date for June 18.
