Nykea Aldridge was a “real fashionista,” whose favorite color was purple and who loved creating elaborate hair styles, according to her family.
The 32-year-old was a talented writer. She was extremely close with her extended family, bickering with and annoying her nieces and nephew more like a sister than an aunt.
Dozens of relatives and friends gathered Sunday afternoon to mourn Aldridge, who was shot to death in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood two days earlier. As they sobbed and struggled to cope with the trauma, two brothers appeared in Cook County bond court across town, charged with murder in killing Aldridge, a cousin of Chicago Bulls guard Dwyane Wade.
“This is my baby girl,” Aldridge’s mother, Diann, said through sobs, holding a photo of her daughter. “Her life is gone too soon. Too soon she was taken away from us. We’re just thankful to God that she was here on this earth as long as she was to bring joy to our hearts. She was an awesome, little quiet storm of a daughter.”
Derren Sorrells, 22, and Darwin Sorrells Jr., 26, were charged Sunday with first-degree murder and attempted murder. Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. ordered both held without bail, saying they were a danger to society.
Aldridge was pushing a baby stroller in the 6300 block of South Calumet Avenue at 3:30 p.m. Friday when she was shot. The mother of four, who had been in the area to register her children at the nearby Dulles School of Excellence, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital. Aldridge’s baby and a man she was walking with weren’t hurt in the shooting.
Aldridge’s infant girl, Da’Kota, was born Aug. 1, relatives said.
Authorities said the brothers were targeting a man who had driven a group of women from a suburb to Chicago’s Parkway Gardens neighborhood.
“These offenders believed the driver may have been armed with a weapon,” Chicago police Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan said at a press conference announcing the charges. “At this point, when the (driver) goes back and forth between where he dropped the girls off, the residence and his car. When he comes out to his vehicle, now there’s two offenders armed with handguns chasing him down, attempting to kill him, and they miss him and they kill (Aldridge).”
Aldridge was struck four times, including twice in her head, prosecutors said in court.
Moments before the shooting, video surveillance shows Darwin Sorrells with a gun in his waistband and Derren following close behind with a silver handgun in his right hand, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Katherine Schoon.
About 21/2 hours after the shooting, Darwin Sorrells was arrested in the 6400 block of South Martin Luther King Drive, Schoon said.
The 25-year-old driver identified Darwin Sorrells as the suspect who fired shots at him. However, in a videotaped statement, Darwin Sorrells implicates his brother as the shooter, Schoon said.
Derren Sorrells, who was arrested at his apartment early Saturday morning, admitted to firing multiple shots at the driver in his statement to police.
Darwin, who has one child, has worked full-time at a warehouse for the past six months, according to a public defender. Derren, a father of two, finished 11th grade at Roseland High School. Both are scheduled to return to court on Monday.
Both Sorrells brothers are convicted felons who were on parole at the time of the shooting — prime examples of the judicial system’s inability to stop habitual offenders, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a Sunday news conference.
“This tragedy isn’t just noteworthy because Ms. Aldridge has a famous family member,” Johnson said. Rather, it shows that the cycle of arrests, convictions and parole isn’t changing the behavior of those who repeatedly commit crimes, he said.
“Clearly, they don’t think we’re serious. Clearly, they don’t think there’s a consequence to their actions. And to be quite honest, we’re showing them that there’s not. If we’re not going to keep you in jail because you choose to use a gun — then what are we doing?”
Darwin Sorrells, of the 7500 block of South Wentworth Avenue, served three years in state prison for 2013 convictions of receiving, possessing or selling a stolen vehicle and for unlawful use or possession of a firearm by a felon, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records. He was paroled in early February.
He was convicted in 2011 of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He was sentenced to five years on that charge. He also has felony convictions from 2007 for aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.
Derren Sorrells, of the 6000 block of South Indiana Avenue, served four years in state prison for 2012 convictions of possession of a stolen vehicle and violating the terms of his electronic monitoring. He was paroled Aug. 12, according to the IDOC website. He also is a documented member of the Gangster Disciples, according to Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
When asked about the difference in solving Aldridge’s killing within days compared with the overwhelming majority of homicides that don’t end in arrests, Johnson pointed to the community as being more cooperative because of to the high-profile nature of the case.
“You know why we captured them right away? Because the community helped us with it,” Johnson said. “Police officers very rarely witness crime, especially murder or aggravated battery with a firearm. … We take every death in Chicago seriously, but we need the community’s help to bring these cases to a successful resolution.”
Wade has only commented publicly about the tragedy through his Twitter account, posting on Saturday: “RIP Nykea Aldridge… #EnoughIsEnough” as well as “The city of Chicago is hurting. We need more help & more hands on deck.”
Outside New Creation Church, where Aldridge’s aunt and Wade’s mother, Jolinda Wade, is the pastor, several mourners wore black T-shirts with the #EnoughIsEnough hashtag printed in white. Many held family photos of Aldridge, some with her wearing her familiar purple, others of her cradling her smiling children.
One niece said Aldridge was in the delivery room when the niece had a baby. Another niece, Raven Roberts, said Aldridge was the first person she told when she found out she was pregnant, and the two mothers planned to go together to have family photos taken with their kids.
Relatives established a trust fund for Aldridge’s children: Summer, 12, Sincere, 10, Shavae, 8, and Da’Kota, 4 weeks.
“It’s just hard for me right now because we were supposed to grow old together,” said Nykea’s sister, also named Diann Aldridge.
Her nephew, Victor Pounds, chuckled as he recalled that Aldridge tended to follow his family whenever they moved from place to place.
“That’s my best friend,” Pounds said. “That’s my twin. We even went and got the same tattoo together.”
Jolinda Wade recalled that relatives always gathered close to Christmastime for a family celebration, and Aldridge would be the first to show up. It was at one of these family get-togethers, she said, that Aldridge read some of her writings and shared with them her ambitions of writing a book.
“Nykea is a very, very special young lady,” she said. “We’re going to hold on to the memories.”
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