CHICAGO — Nearly seven years after a gunman killed one victim and injured two others, including a 12-year-old boy at an Uptown Starbucks, a judge sentenced the alleged shooter Thursday to more than 50 years in prison.
A jury found 26-year-old Tikeo Sweeting guilty of murder and two counts of attempted murder in April, two years after an earlier jury trial ended in a mistrial. Yesterday, Judge Diana Kenworthy sentenced Sweeting to 55 years in prison and ordered him to serve 100% of the time, court records show.
On November 2, 2017, around 8 p.m., Sauvignon Watkins, 28, and another man stepped outside Starbucks, 4753 North Broadway, to smoke. As they did so, a gunman wearing a balaclava approached them and began shooting at them as they tried to escape to the coffee shop, officials said.
The gunman followed them inside, shot Watkins repeatedly as he lay on the ground, and ran away.
In the seconds after the shooting, a woman ran into the coffee shop, picked up the injured boy and took him to nearby Weiss Hospital. Prosecutors said he had been waiting for a ride when bullets tore through his thigh, ankle and back.
The 24-year-old man Watkins was with survived a gunshot wound to the torso.
Prosecutors said several people who were shown surveillance footage of the shooter were able to identify Sweeting as the shooter because his ski mask exposed much of his face to the cameras. A witness told police that Sweeting also identified himself as the shooter, officials said.
Shortly after the shooting, police said they believed the shooting was related to drug activity, adding that Watkins had narcotics in his possession when he died.
Starbucks reopened the store shortly after the shooting, but then closed the location permanently.
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