A Cook dinner County jury on Friday discovered 33-year-old Jimmy Chamberlain responsible of murdering a bouncer and wounding one other man throughout a New Yr’s Day 2023 taking pictures on the Lyon’s Den hookah lounge in Wicker Park.
The decision brings a measure of closure to a case that superior unusually shortly by way of the county’s courtroom system, the place homicide instances usually languish for years earlier than reaching resolutions.
Chicago police stated Chamberlain tried to storm into the lounge whereas brandishing a handgun round 1:30 a.m. on January 1, 2023. Denied entry, he allegedly exchanged gunfire with 38-year-old Austin McAllister, a father of six and army veteran, working as a bouncer that evening. A 26-year-old man contained in the lounge was additionally shot.
McAllister died, whereas the youthful man survived with a gunshot wound to his calf. Police stated your complete alternate was caught on video.
Prosecutors took Chamberlain to trial this week on 4 counts of homicide and two counts of tried homicide. The jury shortly returned responsible verdicts on all counts, in accordance with courtroom information.
Almost two months after the taking pictures, police named Chamberlain as a suspect. Authorities situated and arrested him through the summer time of 2023. On the time of the taking pictures, he had been on parole for precisely three years after serving half of a 21-year jail sentence for armed house invasion.
Decide Arthur Willis presided over the trial and set November 12 for a routine listening to on post-trial motions.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) urged the town to close the lounge down after the taking pictures, however then-CPD Superintendent David Brown refused to take motion. As an alternative, the lounge agreed so as to add safety and restrict BYOB consuming.
However present CPD Supt. Larry Snelling wasn’t practically as forgiving. He ordered the enterprise to shut completely after three folks have been shot exterior the membership in July 2024. Expenses have been filed in that ase, which remains to be working its method by way of the courts.
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