CHICAGO — A judge has sentenced a man to five years in prison for the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, an incident that occurred while he was on electronic monitoring for a prior gun possession case. The sentencing also includes an additional three-year term for the gun case and another three years for reckless discharge of a firearm.
Antwon Derrington, 22, is expected to be released from prison in June 2026.
In February 2020, Antwon Derrington received 18 months of juvenile probation for two robberies he allegedly committed as a minor. Nine months later, on November 6, 2020, prosecutors charged him as an adult with unlawful use of a weapon after police allegedly found a loaded handgun in his car.
Prosecutors said he left his car in drive and ran when cops asked him to step out of the vehicle during a traffic stop. The police found him hiding under a car and located the firearm between his driver’s seat and center console. He allegedly told the arresting officers that his fingerprints and DNA were probably on the weapon.
He went home on electronic monitoring to await trial on a felony gun possession charge.
But just three months later, Derrington and his girlfriend were at home in the 1200 block of South Kedvale, “drinking, smoking weed, and recording videos on her phone” that showed both of them handling firearms, prosecutors later said.
At one point, they each fired rounds from the back porch, activating one of the Chicago Police Department’s ShotSpotter gunfire detectors. Moments later, Derrington shot his girlfriend in the chest, killing her, officials said.
Derrington allegedly admitted to firing a round on the back porch and told police that he hid the gun in the backyard. One of his relatives later disposed of it.
Prosecutors initially charged Derrington only with reckless discharge of a firearm for the fatal shooting. They upgraded that to murder in June 2022.
Ultimately, prosecutors reached a plea deal in which Derrington pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter for shooting his girlfriend. Judge Sophia Atcherson sentenced him to five years.
She ordered him to serve a consecutive three years for reckless discharge of a firearm and another three years, served consecutively to the others, for the gun case he was on bail for at the time of the shooting.
His total sentence, 11 years, will be reduced by 50% for good behavior. It will also be offset by 1,503 days of credit he earned in jail.
