The murder charges against Carlishia Hood, the mother seen in a video urging her 14-year-old son to shoot and kill a man at a fast food restaurant, have been dropped after further footage came to light showing the man punching her.
Cook County prosecutors in Chicago dropped the charges against the 35-year-old as well as her son following the death of a man at a restaurant in West Pullman.
Ms Hood and her son had been charged with first-degree murder following the killing of Jeremy Brown, 32, on 18 June at the Maxwell Street Express, a fast-food restaurant south of downtown Chicago.
Ms Hood had a valid Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card and she had a license to carry a concealed weapon when the incident took place. The mother was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to CBS News Chicago.
On Monday, all the charges against both mother and son were dropped.
The office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said in a statement that the decision to drop the charges was “based upon our continued review and in light of emerging evidence”.
“Based upon the facts, evidence, and the law, we are unable to meet our burden of proof in the prosecution of these cases,” the office added.
Ms Hood left the Cook County Jail on Monday morning, hugging her family as she came outside.
While she didn’t comment on her release as she left the jail, her attorney and family said they were relieved to see the charges dropped and that justice had been served.
Prosecutors have previously noted that the shooting was filmed. Ms Hood was in line to get food with her son waiting in their car when Mr Brown came inside. Video later shared on social media showed an argument between Ms Hood and Mr Brown inside the fast-food restaurant.
Ms Hood texted her son during the argument. Security footage from outside the restaurant shows the 14-year-old going inside while cellphone footage from inside shows Mr Brown hitting Ms Hood at least three times both in the head and the face.
“If you say one more thing I’m going to knock you out,” Mr Brown said in the video.
It was at this point that the teenager pulled a gun from his hoodie and shot Mr Brown in the back. The 32-year-old fled the restaurant, with the teenager following him. The teen discharged the firearm again after Ms Hood told him to shoot and kill Mr Brown.
Mr Brown died of his injuries after being shot twice in the back. The mother and son said in their account of the shooting that Mr Brown had punched Ms Hood.
CBS 2 legal analyst Irv Miller said on the network, “You have the right to use deadly force to stop that force against another person, and that’s exactly what happened in this case, and that’s exactly why the state’s attorney’s office dropped this case today”.
He added that the charges should never have been filed.
“This goes beyond an injustice. Frankly, it’s a miscarriage of justice as to what happened to this woman and her son,” he said. “It’s a situation where either the charges should have been rejected, or at the very minimum they should have been continued for investigation, rather than just, you know, say, ‘Okay, murder charge. Send them to court.’”
Both Ms Hood and her son had no criminal record.
After she was charged last week, Ms Hood was held on a $3m bond while her son was charged as a juvenile and held without bail before the dropping of the charges. Both have now been released.
