Ford Heights man gets 80 years for killing ex-girlfriend, leaving man paralyzed
SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE July 17, 2012 12:28PM
Deandre Crawford / photo from Illinois Dept. of Corrections
Updated: August 19, 2012 6:21AM
A Ford Heights man was sentenced to 80 years in prison Monday for a 2008 attack that left his former girlfriend dead and her boyfriend paralyzed.
Deandre Crawford, 32, was convicted by a jury in May of first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Elena Anderson, and attempted murder for shooting her 33-year-old boyfriend, leaving him permanently paralyzed, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Cook County Judge Neera Walsh sentenced Crawford to 80 years in prison, a release from prosecutors said.
On Feb. 12, 2008, Crawford went to Anderson’s apartment in the 6700 block of South Halsted Street in Chicago to visit the child they had together, prosecutors said. He wanted to take the child with him, but Anderson refused, and the two began arguing, prosecutors said.
Anderson’s boyfriend arrived and noticed the argument in the living room, but did not immediately intervene, instead going into a bedroom with Anderson’s two children. Crawford followed him into the bedroom and shot him five times in the face, chest and shoulder in front of the children, prosecutors said. He then went back into the living room and shot Anderson twice in the chest, they said.
Anderson was able call 911 and said Crawford had shot both her and her boyfriend, according to prosecutors. She also told police when they arrived.
Anderson was taken to a hospital, where she later died. Her boyfriend was severely wounded and remains paralyzed from the shooting.
