North Aurora Man Sentenced For Double Homicide In 2020

NORTH AURORA, IL — A North Aurora man will spend the rest of his natural life in prison as a result of fatally shooting two people in 2020, Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis announced Monday.

A jury found James Brown, 31, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder following a nearly week-long trial in February. He was convicted in the deaths of Cassandra and Changina Chatman, who were shot in their house on Nov. 11, 2020.

The incident took place at about 11 a.m. on Veteran's Day four years ago, when fourteen shots were fired into a house in the Boulder Hill subdivision. Six people were inside the residence when the mother and her daughter were struck and killed by bullets.

The shooting was a form of gang retaliation, Patch reported. Brown, of the 200 block of Linn Court, has self-identified as a Black Disciple street gang member.

Natural life was the only permitted sentence when an adult is found guilty of the murder of two people, according to a news release from Weis.

"The case was senseless on so many fronts," the state's attorney said in a statement. "Thankfully we have provided not only justice for the community, but certainly some amount of closure for the Chatman family. Gangs have no place in Kendall County. ... Hopefully this will deter others from coming to Kendall to commit crimes of violence."