By JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
Darrick Wells | Chicago Police
Gun in hand, he paced back and forth in the parking lot outside a Morgan Park nightclub before fatally shooting Claudia Mister as she and her friends walked outside, Cook County prosecutors said in court Wednesday.
Darrick Wells, 36, charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting on Sept. 3, was ordered held without bond, according to court records. Police said the suspect’s name is Darrick Wells, while prosecutors spelled his name Derrick.
Mister and friends were leaving the Black Cat Lounge in the 1600 block of West 115th Street about 2:45 a.m. that morning when Wells walked up and shot at them several times, Assistant State’s Attorney Joe DiBella said in court.
Claudia Mister
The 28-year-old Mister was shot four times and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead at 5:35 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
A man also suffered a graze wound in the shooting, DiBella said.
Investigators reviewed surveillance video which showed the suspect pacing back and forth in the parking lot with a gun in his hand, DiBella said. Five spent .45 caliber casings were also recovered from the scene.
The day after the shooting, police released the surveillance images and a “concerned citizen” gave investigators Wells’ name, DiBella said.
Two eyewitnesses also identified Wells as the shooter, and a third identified him as the man pacing in the parking lot, DiBella said.
Wells fled to Iowa, where he was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force on Sept. 15, authorities said.
Chicago Police detectives went to Iowa and interviewed Wells, and he identified himself in a still photo from the surveillance video, DiBella said.
Wells was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors said he and Mister didn’t know each other.
Wells’ public defender said in court that his client is married with four children, and lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Judge Maria Kuriakos-Cecil ordered him held without bond.