In a stirring development, one of the individuals implicated in the tragic murder of Chicago police Officer Aréanah Preston has admitted guilt, prompting the officer’s mother to voice her grief and thoughts. The incident has reignited conversations about justice and loss in the city.

Joseph Brooks, among the quartet accused in the fatal shooting of Officer Preston during a robbery in 2023, faced the court on Thursday. The 22-year-old entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder, leading Cook County Judge Adrienne Davis to impose a 55-year prison sentence.

Just a day after witnessing the courtroom proceedings, Dionne Mhoon, Preston’s mother, shared her emotional response with ABC7. Her poignant reflections highlight the profound impact of the crime on her family.

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“People describe it as justice. It’s no justice,” Mhoon expressed, encapsulating the enduring pain of her loss. “I never wanted to sit in a place where I want to trade my daughter’s life for a young man to sit in jail for 55 years.”

Officer Preston, who was only 24 years old, had just finished her shift and was still clad in her police uniform when the tragedy unfolded. Her untimely death has left a lasting void in the hearts of her loved ones and the community she served.

Officer Preston had just returned home from her shift, still in her uniform,

“It was chilling, but i was glad I got the opportunity to face him, face his family, tell him how I really felt,” Mhoon said. “How they stole my child from me, how they violated my home, how they violated city of chicago her being a police officer, how they took so much of me for their greed i spoke of her, how she would’ve give them anything they needed that’s they type of person she was.”

It was May 6, 2023 just after 1 a.m., and Preston had just pulled up to her home in the Avalon Park neighborhood. Prosecutors say she was confronted by a group, part of a robbery spree that had stretched for hours across Chicago’s South Side that night.

Brooks, now 22 years old, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He was sentenced to 55 years and must serve 100% of that time.

Preston’s mom said she will carry on her daughter’s passion for helping others. She loved being an officer, and was just days away from getting her master’s degree with plans to join the FBI.

“It is just a horrific feeling walking into her room to see that gown that dress she anticipated wearing, that’s hard for me,” Mhoon said. “If there’s one thing I can give another mother going through the same thing is hope, just keep on going for your baby.”

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