CHICAGO — After shooting her long-time boyfriend inside her Old Town apartment last month, Breanna Gilliams taunted the man as he lay dying on the living room floor: “You stupid. You dumb. Breathe.”
That’s part of the allegations prosecutors made this week as they charged Gilliams, 33, with murdering 44-year-old James McKnight around 2:30 a.m. on March 16 while a 911 operator listened on an open phone line. Four children, ranging in age from 6 months to 16 years, were in the apartment at the time of the murder.
Officials said Gilliams had a long history of abusing McKnight, including at least two incidents in which she stabbed him during altercations. But she has never been convicted of any crime.
At about 2:23 a.m. on the morning of the shooting, a 911 operator received a call from Gilliams’ phone, but nobody spoke with the call-taker. But, the operator heard a man and woman talking and also heard the man mention repeatedly that the woman was pointing a gun at him, Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara said in a written proffer.
“You pulling guns around the kids,” the man said.
“I hate you,” replied the woman.
“Get away from me with this gun, you hit me with this gun,” the man allegedly continued as the operator listened. “Put it back before you shoot this gun.”
About two minutes after the call came in, Pekara said, the operator heard a single gunshot followed by the male voice crying, “You just shot me, b****!”
“You stupid. You dumb,” the woman responded. “Breathe.”
The call disconnected and the operator sent police to a general area provided by the 911 caller’s phone location data.
Pekara said Gilliams personally called 911 multiple times after the shooting. During one call, she reported that someone had been accidentally shot at her address in the 1300 block of North Hudson.
Chicago police officers and fire department personnel found McKnight alive but unresponsive on the living room floor. Pekara said Gilliams and her four children were present when first responders arrived.
Over the next 35 minutes, Gilliams provided various accounts of what happened, Pekara alleged.
First, Pekara said, she claimed there had been a robbery. Then she claimed McKnight had been shot outside and then came into the house. She told a private security officer, who was wearing a body camera, that someone came into her apartment and shot McKnight.
McKnight died a short time later from a single gunshot wound to his abdomen. Police allegedly found one .25-caliber shell casing in Gilliams’ living room and a holster in her bedroom.
When detectives arrested Gilliams this week, Pekara said, she claimed that someone wearing a ski mask came into her apartment and she heard a gunshot but did not see a gun.
Judge Mary Marubio detained Gilliams on a single count of first-degree murder.
Pekara said Gilliams was the “named offender” in a string of domestic incidents involving McKnight.
- In 2017, McKnight reported that she grabbed a knife and cut him on the hand and stomach during an argument over a television.
- In 2020, he called 911 after Gilliams allegedly threatened him with a knife because she thought he took her money. CPD officers noticed that McKnight was bleeding and had bloody clothing, but he told them the blood was from an incident the previous night.
- In May 2021, Gilliams allegedly stabbed McKnight in the back after an argument about moving in together. Pekara said McKnight suffered a two-inch laceration on the back.
- In November 2021, McKnight reported that Gilliams bit him on the arm and broke all of his car windows.
Pekara said Gilliams had another domestic violence arrest involving a different victim in 2009. But, he added, Gilliams has never been convicted of any wrongdoing.
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