Boyfriend Shoots Dead Mom, Cousin in Argument Over Illinois Link Card, Baby Wounded

A Illinois woman and her cousin were found fatally wounded Tuesday night, and their suspected killer was found dead Wednesday morning from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in a park a mile away.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims as Jessica Hughes, 29, and Myeshia Newby, 19, WLS reported. Family members said Newby was in a relationship with the man who was found dead in the park.

They said Newby and the man, identied as 21-year-old Rafael Vega, were arguing over a state cash assistance card, in Illinois Link. Michael Benton, Hughes’ father, said Newby’s boyfriend shot her then turned the gun toward Hughes, who had picked up Newby’s infant son and was trying to escape.

“My daughter dropped at my feet. She had the baby in her hand. She had been shot in the face and in the chest. And, he was trying to get by me, so me and him got to fighting,” Benton said.

The boy was grazed by a bullet, Benton said. He is in stable condition at a hospital.

The shooter, however, got away.

“It’s devastating for the whole family,” Hughes’ mother Michelle Musgray said of her daughter and Newby. “They were loving, both of them, loving moms, good souls.”

Cicero police launched a search, but he wasn’t found until the following morning, WFLD reported.

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[Featured image: Jessica Hughes and Myeshia Newby/handout]