A West Side man was convicted Wednesday of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the 2015 shooting death of a 25-year-old southwest suburban man during an armed robbery in the city's Lakeview neighborhood.
Kristopher Pitts, of the 1100 block of North Central Park, was arrested after being identified as the man who shot Kevin O’Malley twice in the chest during a violent robbery about 2 a.m. on May 30, 2015 in the 900 block of West Oakdale, authorities said.
After a trial, Pitts was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, but was acquitted of first-and-second degree murder charges, according to State's Attorney's Office Spokeswoman Aviva Bowen.
A conviction for involuntary manslaughter comes with a prison sentence of 2-to-5 years, but NBC 5 has learned that Pitts will likely be released within a year with time served included in the sentence.
According to O'Malley's parents, the 25-year-old had moved to Lakeview after graduating from the University of Iowa. The man was walking in the neighborhood at approximately 2 a.m. on May 30, 2015 when he was shot in the chest in what police believe was a robbery gone wrong.
Authorities found O'Malley unresponsive on a sidewalk underneath the CTA Brown Line tracks in the 900 block of West Oakdale Avenue, and he was later pronounced dead.
Pitts fled the scene of the shooting but was arrested a short time later, police said.
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O'Malley's family expressed dismay at the verdict, saying that "justice was not served" in the case.
"It's been a long four years of waiting for justice," Michelle Rinck said on Facebook. "Although this was not the verdict we could have ever imagined, this will not deter us from still living everyday the Kevin O'Malley way. He never deserved to die, especially as violently as he did."
