More than one year after 23-year-old Dakotah Earley was brutally shot while being robbed of his cellphone in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood in a frightening scene caught on surveillance cameras, another arrest has been made in his case, police said.
More than one year after 23-year-old Dakotah Earley was brutally shot while being robbed of his cellphone in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood in a frightening scene caught on surveillance cameras, another arrest has been made in his case, police said.
An 18-year-old has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery with a firearm in connection with the shooting. He also faces charges of possession of a stolen vehicle and criminal trespassing.
The arrest marks the second in the case so far.
Tyshon Brownlee, 19, was already charged in the attack on Earley and in four other armed robberies on the city's North Side, according to authorities.
Police said the teen, who was 17 years old at the time of the shooting, was arrested Monday in the 100 block of 19th Avenue in Maywood. He was identified as one of the offenders who robbed Earley before shooting and seriously wounding him in the 1300 block of West Webster, authorities said.
Earley was shot on the street in Lincoln Park while being robbed of his cellphone May 6. He struggled with a gunman who knocked him down and fired at least three times.
Earley had a part of his leg amputated and also had surgery to close up his abdomen. He left the intensive care unit at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in July.
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Prosectors have said Earley was walking on a sidewalk near the corner of Webster and Wayne avenues when Brownlee stepped out from behind a building, pointed a gun and demanded his cellphone and passcode.
The 9 mm handgun Brownlee was holding went off as they struggled and Earley tried to defend himself, police said. Brownlee then stood over Earley and shot him again, paused, and shot him a third time.
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The experience has been “extremely hard” emotionally, his mother Joy Dobbs said.
“Pretty much the whole world watched my son get gunned down. I can only imagine what he’s going through and what he remembers,” she said.
Family and friends have helped Dobbs and her son in the recovery.
“Someone reminded me that self-love helps me continue to take care of him. Sometimes I forget that because I’m on autopilot, making sure he has everything he needs,” she said. “He’s just the most amazing person I know right now. He’s fighting so hard.
“From all the tragedy, there’s still some really good people in Chicago,” Dobbs said.
“Sometimes people send him cookbooks and cards and he makes a face like he can’t believe it,” she said. Early had been studying to become a chef.
