dajae-coleman

25-year-old Wesley Woodson was found guilty Friday by a Cook County Circuit Court jury of the murder in Evanston five years ago of 14-year-old Dajae Coleman.

Coleman was shot and killed as he walked with a group of friends in the 1400 block of Church Strreet on the evening of Sept. 22, 2012.

Wesley Woodson (EPD photo).

Woodson was charged with first degree murder and seven counts of attempted first degree murder and was found guilty on all counts.

He had reportedly mistaken the youths he shot at for another group that had gotten into a fight with one of his relatives at a party earlier that evening.

After the verdict was returned, Coleman’s mother, Tiffany Rice, said, “That type of thing, it just can’t go unpunished. There has to be a lesson in all of this.”

Referring to Woodson, she said, “It’s something that he has to learn from, and he has to sit down and do that behind bars, and I’m OK with that.”

Sentencing for Woodson is still pending.

Related stories

Evanston man guilty of 1st-degree murder (Chicago Tribune)

Woodson guilty in Coleman murder trial (Evanston Patch)

Bill Smith is the editor and publisher of Evanston Now.

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