Weeks after a dust-up with his neighbor, a 45-year-old Illinois man allegedly opened fire on a woman near their Chicago apartment building — but he ended up killing her daughter instead, prosecutors say.
Bail was denied Saturday for Eugene Arnold III, who is now charged with the murder of 25-year-old Rickisha King-Tiggs and the attempted murder of her mother, authorities said.
Prosecutors said during a bail hearing that the feud between Arnold and King-Tiggs’ mother started at least a few weeks before it ended in gunfire Wednesday evening.
The two lived in the same apartment complex and had “encounters where Arnold made derogatory comments toward her when he saw her,” according to Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Mack.
On Oct. 4, King-Tiggs’ mother walked through a gated doorway and allegedly let the door close on Arnold and a person he was with, prompting him to make “offensive comments,” Mack said.
The woman responded to the comments by throwing a rock at Arnold, who was carrying a box of liquor, Mack said. He then allegedly struck her in the arm with a bottle of liquor and punched her multiple times, Mack said. Arnold allegedly retreated into his residence once onlookers intervened.
Just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, King-Tiggs was walking with her mother in the 800 block of East 82nd Street when her mother saw Arnold circling the block in a silver van, Mack said.
As she was on the phone with police giving a description of Arnold, she allegedly saw him fire a handgun from inside his van and through the passenger window.
King-Tiggs was shot in the head and leg, police said. She later died at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Her mother was not struck, Mack said.
After the shooting, a witness said they saw Arnold drive south against traffic on Maryland Avenue before turning right on 83rd Street, Mack said. Arnold was arrested hours later in River North, according to police.
Arnold has a lengthy criminal record over the past decade. His public defender noted he joined the Marines in 1998 after graduating high school and was honorably discharged after an injury in basic training.
His next court date was set for Monday.
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