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 on Thursday sentenced the alleged shooter to more than 50 years in prison.
A jury found Tikeo Sweeting, 26, 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, according to court records.
Around 8 p.m. on November 2, 2017, Sauvignon Watkins, 28, and another man stepped outside Starbucks, 4753 North Broadway, to have a smoke. As they did, a gunman wearing a ski mask walked up and started shooting at them as they tried to escape into the coffeeshop, officials said.
The gunman followed them inside, shot Watkins repeatedly as he lay on the floor, and ran away.
In the seconds after the shooting, a woman ran into the coffee shop, snatched up the injured boy, and drove him to nearby Weiss Hospital. Prosecutors said he had been waiting for a ride when bullets ripped 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 shown surveillance images of the shooter were able to identify Sweeting as the gunman because his ski mask left much of his face exposed to the cameras. A witness told police that Sweeting identified himself as the shooter, too, officials said.
Shortly after the shooting, police said they believed the shooting was linked to drug activity, adding that Watkins had narcotics in his possession when he died.
Starbucks reopened the store shortly after the shootings, but it subsequently closed the location permanently.
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