Prosecutors said a Chicago woman shot another resident of her Lakeview apartment building after they spent the afternoon drinking together, but her defense attorney said she denies the allegations and it “might be a one-off situation.”
Lateaner Simmons, 39, was arrested by Chicago police on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after a 50-year-old man was shot inside the building on the 700 block of West Diversey.
Simmons and the man were drinking together in his apartment when they decided to call it a night around 4:15 p.m. According to prosecutors, video shows the pair riding an elevator to the seventh floor, where the man stepped off and then put his arm between the doors to continue a conversation with her.
There were no signs of yelling, argument, or confrontation, according to the allegations.
The man stepped away for a moment, and the video allegedly shows Simmons pulling a gun from her purse and looking around the corner. Prosecutors claim that when he returned, the man extended his arm to calm Simmons down, and she shot him in the foot.
After being shot, the victim walked to a neighbor’s apartment to get help.
Police say they found a gun, about $10 worth of heroin, and $300 worth of cocaine in Simmons’ purse.
Simmons told police that the man had been touching and flirting with her, and she “had a right to do it,” an assistant state’s attorney said during Simmons’ bail hearing.
Assistant Public Defender Michael Grady pointed to Simmons’ lack of criminal background and said that, while she denies the charges, the incident “might be a one-off situation.”
She is charged with aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and possession of a controlled substance.
Judge Kelly McCarthy ordered her to pay a $4,000 bail deposit to be released.
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