19-year-old charged in slaying of 7-year-old boy struck by bullet

CHICAGO — A 19-year-old man has been arrested in the death of a 7-year-old boy who was struck by a stray bullet while washing his hands in the bathroom of his family’s westside Chicago home.

Joseph Serrano of Chicago was charged Thursday with first-degree murder, according to police.

Akeem Briscoe was apparently getting ready for bed on Oct. 26 when someone fired multiple shots in a nearby alley and a bullet struck the child in the abdomen, according to police.^[1]

He later died at a hospital.

Shell casings were found in the alley and detectives examined private video footage from the area in the hopes of identifying who fired the shots.

Investigators later learned that shots were fired from one group of people at another group in a car in the alley, police said.

“They shoot at that group; obviously the bullet misses that group,” Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said. “There was nobody struck in that group, and the bullet goes through the window, striking the 7-year-old.”

A 16-year-old boy also was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office said a third suspect was arrested, but not yet charged.

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