The man accused of shooting and killing a 9-year-old girl in Portage Park in 2023 has pleaded guilty and is expected to be sentenced Thursday morning.
The family of Serabi Medina said the thought of going through a trial and reliving the details of that day was just too painful. Instead, they pushed hard to strike a plea deal that they say will hopefully keep the accused shooter, Michael Goodman, 46, locked up for the rest of his life.
"We are hoping with the 40 years that he is never a free man," said cousin Jaleesa Medina.
Thursday, in a Cook County courtroom, Jaleesa will speak directly to the man accused of shooting and killing 9-year-old Serabi Medina.
Goodman accepted a plea deal last month and agreed to 40 years, according to the Medina family.
"When I look him in the eye, that's going to be the last thing my cousin saw — he will never walk a free man," she said.
In August 2023, prosecutors say Serabi was outside her Portage Park home, where she had just bought ice cream and ridden her scooter, when a gunshot went off in Goodman's home. He lived nearby.
Goodman then came outside, ignored Serabi's father, and followed her to the vestibule of her apartment building, where he then shot and killed her. The attack was unprovoked.
Serabi's father struggled with Goodman over the gun, and a shot went off, hitting Goodman in the eye.
"It's evil, pure evil, and because of him my whole family knows what evil truly is," Jaleesa said.
The judge will ultimately have discretion on the sentence given to Goodman on Thursday.
Jaleesa said he wrote the family a letter from jail explaining his drug use and mental state at the time of the shooting.
"He basically said what he did was a mistake. That's how he labeled killing my cousin a mistake, and tomorrow I will tell him what he did was not a mistake."
The sentencing hearing is set for 10 a.m. Thursday.
Goodman will likely get credit for time served.
