Chicago police have made an arrest in a shooting that left a 7-year-old girl dead and her younger sister wounded last month on the Northwest Side, the Tribune has learned.

       A 24-year-old man on parole for an attempted armed robbery conviction is in custody for the mid-August shooting that killed 7-year-old Serenity Broughton and wounded her 6-year-old sister, Aubrey, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

       No charges had been filed in the shooting.

       Serenity Broughton, 7, was fatally shot on Aug. 15, 2021. Her sister, 6-year-old Aubrey Broughton, also was shot. (Family photo)

       On Aug. 15 about 2:50 p.m., the girls were in a parked car near their maternal grandmother’s home in the 6200 block of West Grand Avenue in the Belmont Cragin community when they were shot, police said.

       There was chaos and confusion all around when the shots were fired, the girls’ paternal grandmother told the Tribune last month, but in the back seat of their parents’ vehicle, they clung to one another.

       “They were hugging,” said Regina Broughton. “When they separated and pulled apart, there was blood on both of them.”

       Serenity Broughton had been shot in the chest, a bullet clipping her heart, the grandmother said. A bullet also hit Aubrey in the chest, but she survived.

       “Aubrey, the bullet ruptured her lung and she had to be intubated,” Regina Broughton said the day after the shooting. “Serenity’s injury was fatal. The bullet pierced her heart — she didn’t have a chance.”

       Regina Broughton described Serenity as having a “fierce personality” and having wanted to become a pilot when she grew up.

       “For someone to do this to these babies, you think about the people who are capable of such a thing. I wonder, what type of animal lives inside of people?” Regina Broughton said. “Because that’s what you’d have to be, an animal. What type of animal could do this?”

       The girls were among at least 55 people shot that weekend in Chicago, five of whom — including Serenity — were fatally wounded.

       jgorner@chicagotribune.com

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