'Paranoid' Chicago mum kills son, 12, over a memory card

A Chicago woman has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the death of her 12-year-old son. The homicide happened on Saturday morning in the 8000 block of South Bennett Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood.

Fallon Harris allegedly shot and killed her son Kaden Ingram after she accused him of stealing a memory card from her computer. It was said she confronted him about it and demanded that he return the card, which she last saw in her car.

The 37-year-old mum reportedly became violent when told that he did not have it. She shot him once and demanded that he return the item to her. But when he denied knowing where it is again, she shot him a second time.

The 12-year old was said to be conscious but crying after the first shot, according to a statement from Assistant State's Attorney Eugene Wood to the Chicago Tribune. But he lay wounded and unconscious on the kitchen floor after the second. Harris ultimately phoned a couple of relatives about what she had done, which prompted them to alert the police and the boy's father.

Harris, who worked for the city Department of Transportation, reportedly answered the front door when the police arrived. She even led them to the silver murder weapon. The violent attack was captured on surveillance footage inside the house. The stricken father eventually found his son unresponsive on the kitchen floor before he rushed him to the hospital for treatment.

However, the boy did not survive his wounds when he was later received at the University of Chicago Medical Center. A coroner's report from the Cook County medical examiner's office revealed that he died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head at 10:51 a.m.

Cook County prosecutors said Harris had a concealed carry license for a weapon. Relatives also told officers that she had been showing paranoid behaviour leading up to the murder. She had complained that people were out to get her. There is no mention of why she was so adamant about retrieving the missing memory card. Judge Mary C. Marubio has since ordered that the accused remain in court without bail.