A Chicago man who shot a woman five times on a South Side expressway—less than three weeks after buying his gun—has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Damarco Watkins-Romaine, 34, was originally charged with attempted murder but pleaded guilty to aggravated discharge of a firearm toward an occupied vehicle, court records show.
Prosecutors said the victim was driving north on I-57 near 99th Street around 10:18 p.m. on November 23, 2022, when Watkins-Romaine opened fire from another vehicle. Within hours, Illinois State Police used license-plate readers and Chicago police surveillance cameras to identify the gunman’s white Lincoln MKX, which was found the next day in the 7800 block of South Phillips Avenue.
Watkins-Romaine, who lived a few yards from where the car was found, was arrested three months later and released after being swabbed for DNA and fingerprinted.
While lab tests were pending, investigators executed search warrants and determined that Watkins-Romaine’s phone data placed him at the scene during the shooting and at the same location as the victim shortly beforehand, according to a police report.
Police said live ammunition found inside the Lincoln matched shell casings recovered from the expressway. Investigators also found sales records showing Watkins-Romaine bought the same brand of ammunition and a handgun on November 6, 2022.
He surrendered to Chicago police after tests allegedly showed his fingerprints and DNA were inside the Lincoln.
Judge Mary Brosnahan sentenced Watkins-Romaine to seven years in prison and credited him with 957 days served in the Cook County Jail.
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