A Joliet mother was fatally shot and her 1-year-old baby and boyfriend were critically wounded during a New Year’s break-in that may have been rooted in a dispute about the child, police said.
Police have charged the baby’s father, Jaime Casillas, 26, of the 100 block of Anderson Avenue, Joliet, with murder in the death of Brenda Greenwood, 24, officials said.
Casillas is also charged with two counts of attempted murder in the attacks on the baby, Mireya Casillas, and Greenwood’s boyfriend, Merced Costilla, said Pat Kerr, deputy chief of the Joliet Police Department.
The couple had quarreled about the child, police said, and Greenwood received a protective order against Casillas last week.
Police learned of the shooting at 12:41 a.m. Monday when a 911 caller said someone was bleeding at Washington Street and Eastern Avenue, Kerr said.
That was Costilla, 24, who had been shot in his home and managed to run about two blocks away, police said.
Earlier, the couple and baby were in their home in the 200 block of East Lincoln Street, Kerr said. They were in a bedroom when they heard noises downstairs, he said.
“He went to investigate and when he came downstairs he was fired upon and hit in the stomach,” Kerr said. “He found two people breaking in and they pursued him back upstairs. Costilla then ran down a different flight of stairs and heard more gunfire upstairs.”
Costilla escaped, but police later found Greenwood and the baby in the bedroom. Greenwood had been shot several times. The baby had been shot in the arm and the slug traveled into her body, Kerr said.
All three victims were taken to Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet. Greenwood was pronounced dead shortly after 1 a.m., and the baby was airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood where she was in critical but stable condition.
Casillas was at Silver Cross, also in critical but stable condition, police said.
Neighbors said Casillas and Greenwood moved into the Lincoln Street home two or three weeks ago.
Witness interviews led police to suspect Costilla, who was arrested later Monday morning, police said.
Police have little information about the second suspect, Kerr said. Anyone with information about him or the shooting is asked to call the Joliet Police Department at 815-724-3020.
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tmaxwell@tribune.com
