By Madeline Buckley
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston was supposed to graduate from Loyola University Chicago with a master’s degree before she was killed in a violent crime spree that was undertaken simply to get some money for a barbecue, her family said.
Now, nearly three years later, the fallen police officer’s graduation cap and gown still hang in her bedroom in the same place she left it before her work shift that ended in tragedy on May 6, 2023.
“I no longer have my child,” Preston’s mother, Dionne Mhoon, cried in court on Thursday. “Do you hear me? I no longer have my child.”
Joseph Brooks, 22, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 55 years in prison, the first of four defendants charged to have his case resolved. Trevell Breeland, Jakwon Buchanan and Jaylan Frazier are still facing pending charges in the slaying of the officer, killed just as she arrived home from work in the early-morning hours.
Brooks will serve 100% of his sentence.
“That means you will serve every day of that 55 years,” Judge Adrienne Davis said, advising him of his rights. “Do you understand that?”
Police officers packed the courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, while family members gave tearful remarks, remembering Preston as a brilliant and helpful officer. In fact, her mother told Brooks, Preston probably would have helped him if he had only asked.
Preston, 24, had a life ahead of her that was full of promise, her family said. In addition to nearly graduating with an advanced degree, she had also recently been accepted to the FBI.
And she was a loving niece, daughter and older sister, family members testified. One of her sisters recalled in a written statement that one of the last things Preston told her was to come straight home after prom because the neighborhood could be rough at night.
“My beloved daughter’s dream as a young child was to become police officer,” her father, Allen Preston said. “She was about to make a major impact on the world when her life was tragically cut short.”
Her aunt, Anjela Preston, did the sign of the cross as she took the stand, and shifted her body to look directly at Brooks.
“Your actions, Joseph Brooks, did not only take my niece’s life,” she said. “You took our family away.”
The chain of attacks began around midnight that Saturday when Buchanan’s girlfriend and another woman picked him up along with the other three teenagers, prosecutors said. In search of money for a party, the four defendants allegedly were armed with guns and dressed in black with face coverings. They carried out several robberies before they fatally shot Preston, authorities said.
The group first allegedly drove to the 900 block of East 46th Street and robbed a 33-year-old woman parking her car near a restaurant, authorities said. The teens then stole a red Kia while the assailants’ female friends remained in the Dodge, prosecutors said. The four defendants then allegedly drove around in the Kia looking for additional people to rob.
The teens pulled up to a home in the 10000 block of South Wallace Street where two women were talking, prosecutors said. They pushed the women to the ground and robbed them, prosecutors alleged. They later drove away and allegedly committed another robbery, taking a man’s cellphone and keys to his Tesla, authorities said.
Finally, the teens drove near Preston’s home in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue, where they allegedly shot and killed her, authorities said, then sold her gun.
Brooks apologized to Preston’s family, saying that he converted to Islam in prison and is a different person now.
“I got caught up in the fast life,” Brooks said.
His attorney noted that he decided to take responsibility, rather than go to trial.
“I’m going to do everything I can to become a better individual,” Brooks said.
Family members, wearing yellow with buttons that pictured Preston, sobbed throughout much of the hearing.
Mhoon said she has left her daughter’s room unchanged, and her eye is often drawn to the patch of grass where her daughter was killed.
“For a mere barbecue,” she said, crying.
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