Man Charged in Shooting Death of Mother in Cellphone Store

A man is accused of firing the stray bullet last month that fatally struck a mother as she shopped with her two children in a cellphone store on the Southwest Side.

Bryant Mitchell, 23, of the Ashburn neighborhood, is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder in the slaying of Candice Dickerson in a Metro PCS store in Chicago Lawn, Chicago police and authorities said.

The shooting happened about 6:30 p.m. April 26 in the 5900 block of South Kedzie Avenue, according to police.

Dickerson, 36, was buying a cellphone for one of her children when Mitchell and someone else allegedly fired shots from outside, authorities said. One bullet flew into the store and struck Dickerson in the face.

She was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she died, authorities said. At the scene, an ambulance was also struck by gunfire.

Detectives Monday night were questioning a person of interest who may have been the alleged second shooter, a police spokesperson said.

Dickerson, who lived a few blocks away from where she was shot, was a “committed and beloved” pharmacy technician at Norwegian American Hospital, a spokesperson for the hospital said. She was also a single mother of three sons — ages 10, 12 and 17. Her two youngest sons were present at the shooting.

Mitchell was arrested May 4 after he was identified as the gunman, police said. He is scheduled for a bail hearing on Tuesday.

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