A mother of newborn twins is dead after her boyfriend allegedly shot and killed her earlier this month in Chicago’s South Side.
21-year-old Crystal Crockett was just two years away from getting her nursing degree at Malcolm X College. She was thrilled to be a new mom to her twins, Iyla and Italy.
The father of the babies, 31-year-old Elijah Clippard, shot Crystal in cold blood in an alley at East 45th Street and South Wabash Avenue in Chicago, Illinois on June 15, according to prosecutors.
Crystal had given birth to the couple’s baby girls on March 21, but they have never left the hospital, according to activist Andrew Holmes. They are still in the NICU at Rush University Medical Center, prosecutors said.
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Hospital video showed the couple at the hospital the day before, as well as surveillance video of the couple early the next morning. Clippard is seen driving a vehicle with Crystal in the passenger seat before parking the car in an empty lot behind an apartment complex where Crockett lived in the 4500 block of South Wabash, according to prosecutors.
Clippard is then seen getting out of the car with a gun before shooting her several times. Prosecutors said he was “seemingly agitated” and looked around “as if to make sure no one is there.”
Crystal tried to run away as “smoke from the gunfire is seen filling the car,” but Clippard then shoots her several more times, prosecutors said.
Witnesses also said they heard a gun shot around 6:15 a.m. and came out to find Crystal, according to Chicago police.
Clippard was later seen on CTA surveillance at a nearby train station shortly after the shooting, prosecutors added.
Crystal’s family said they had been dating since last summer. Holmes said the new mother would visit her newborn twins every day.
Crystal is described as a caring soul with a bright future. She had acted as home-aide to her grandparents and loved the caring arts.
Her daughters, essentially parent-less now, remain on oxygen. But the family hopes they will be able to bring them home soon.
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“She was really happy to be a mom. She went all out, she was really proud of the girls. That’s what she really wanted – girls. She got her dream,” said Crockett’s sister Nivea Crockett.
None of the family members knew the alleged killer well, they said. However, they vow as a family to take care of Iyla and Italy, and ensure they know how much their mother loved them.
The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for funeral expenses.
Clippard was arrested Wednesday at his Far South Side residence and is being held without bond on a murder charge after a court appearance Thursday.
He is expected back in court July 14.
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