Man accused in double slaying involving former girlfriend

CHICAGO — A man is accused of beating his former girlfriend to death and fatally shooting her current boyfriend on Sunday in a Chicago neighborhood, prosecutors said.

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Steven Hawthorne, 55, was arrested early Sunday and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of resisting arrest, WGN-TV reported.

According to Cook County prosecutors, Hawthorne allegedly let himself into Tamera Washington’s home in a South Chicago neighborhood with a key. Hawthorne then allegedly walked into a bedroom and shot Norman Redden, 51, in the head with a 9mm handgun, WLS-TV reported.

Washington’s two young daughters and her 63-year-old uncle ran to a stairwell and hid, the television station reported. Police alleged that Hawthorne shot at the man but did not wound him, according to WFLD-TV.

Prosecutors alleged that Hawthorne then chased Washington, 26, into the street and shot her in the arm, WLS reported.

A doorbell camera recorded Hawthorne sitting on Washington and striking her in the head with the gun several times before she managed to escape, according to the television station. Washington then tried to seek help from a passing motorist, but Hawthorne pointed the gun at the driver and “told him to keep moving,” prosecutors said.

Hawthorne caught Washington again and began beating her with what prosecutors called “a large rock” and “a boulder” from a nearby lot and dropped it on Washington’s head, several times, WLS reported.

At the time of the killings, Hawthorne was out on bond in a pending case about unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The case was from a Jan. 3 traffic stop, according to court records.

Hawthorne was convicted of murder in 1983 as a teenager and was sentenced the following year to life in prison, according to the newspaper. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that life sentences without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional, Hawthorne was given a 60-year prison sentence.

State prison officials said Hawthorne was released in 2017, the Sun-Times reported.