Chicago Mom Files Lawsuit After Charges Against Her Were Dropped In Deadly Shooting

CHICAGO (WLS) — A Chicago woman has filed a lawsuit after charges against her and her son were dropped in a deadly shooting at a South Side restaurant.

Carlishia Hood, 35, was flanked by her attorneys in Bronzeville during a news conference where they announced that they have filed a complaint against the city of Chicago and five police officers.

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They claim Hood was falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted and that she has also suffered emotional distress.

“On June 18 of this year, my life changed, my son’s life changed,” Hood said. “Never in a million years would I have imagined being brutally attacked, beaten and then arrested.”

This comes after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped all criminal charges against her and her 14-year-old son.

The charges stemmed from an incident at a hot dog stand on June 18 in the 11600-block of South Halsted Street.

Woman speaks out after charges against her in restaurant shooting dropped

Carlishia Hood speaks out after prosecutors dropped charges against her and her son in a fatal restaurant shooting in West Pullman.

Police said Hood was arguing with a man in line. That’s when police said her 14-year-old son came in. As he is watching from the doorway, police and witnesses said the man arguing with his mother, who has been identified as 32-year-old Jeremy Brown, repeatedly punches Hood in the head.

The attack was captured on cell phone video, which went viral after it was shared by a local activist.

SEE ALSO | West Pullman community holds meeting following restaurant shooting, recent increase in violence

Police said as his mother is being hit, the teen fired his gun repeatedly at Brown, shooting him in the back. Police said Brown ran out, and the the mother and son did too, with the son still shooting.

Brown was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. Hood and her son were later charged with first-degree murder.

“No one else in the establishment did anything. And so, once he saw his mother get severely hit, he took action,” said community activist Ja’Mal Green.

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Hood’s attorney’s said prosecutors did the right thing and that she was the victim in this case.

“When a woman is violently attacked by a man, an unarmed woman, then she shouldn’t be arrested,” Hood’s attorney Brandon Brown said. “If your mother or sister or daughter were attacked in a restaurant when she is trying to order a cheeseburger, would you expect that she would be arrested?”

Hood and her attorneys did not answer direct questions about the incident. They would only say that she and her son need time to heal and at some point she will present herself again and speak more in depth about what happened.

Her attorneys said wrongful charges have caused great harm to Hood and her family’s reputation.

At one point, Hood said during the news conference that “everything I have worked for has been tarnished.”

Her attorneys said they plan to file additional lawsuits.

ABC7 has reached out to the city for comment.

In addition to the murder charge, the woman had faced a felony count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, CPD said.

But Monday, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped all charges saying in a statement that, “based upon the facts, evidence and the law, we were unable to meet our burden.”

“What this leaked video did was is it really flipped the prosecutor’s view of the case,” ABC7 Legal Analyst Gil Soffer said. “Before seeing this, they clearly were of the view that the defendant was the aggressor. Now, they are of the view that the person they had formerly seen as the victim was the aggressor.”

Anti-violence groups said they’ve been responding to a recent uptick in shootings in the West Pullman neighborhood. Since May 23, there have been eight shootings and five homicides in the area, according to their count.

Jessica D’Onofrio & Michelle Gallardo