A South Side woman accused of fatally shooting her young son during an apparent mental health emergency in 2021 was acquitted of murder charges by reason of insanity earlier this month, according to court documents.
Fallon C. Harris, 40, was acquitted of six counts of first-degree murder by Judge Thomas J. Byrne on Sept. 19 in connection to the death of her son Kaden Harris-Ingram, according to court records. A report of mental disability adjudication submitted to the court and signed by Byrne indicated that Harris was incompetent to stand trial in a criminal case.
The judge also ordered the former city worker to be transferred to a secure Illinois Department of Human Services facility for inpatient evaluation and treatment, records show. Harris, formerly of the South Chicago neighborhood, remained housed at Cook County Jail as of Saturday evening.
Harris had been in custody since September 2021 and was charged the day after prosecutors said she confronted her 12-year-old son at gunpoint inside their home in the in the 8000 block of South Bennett Avenue.
Harris, formerly a $45.90-an-hour laborer for the city Department of Transportation, allegedly demanded the boy tell her the location of a digital storage disc that she had removed from her vehicle the previous night and shot him when he didn’t turn the item over.
After officers arrived at the home, Harris answered the front door and said she shot her son before leading them to the silver revolver she’d used, prosecutors said during her bail hearing.
The woman’s family later told the Tribune that Harris had been suffering from mental health issues just before the shooting, displaying “weird, erratic behaviors” leading up to the shooting.
“Her son was her best friend,” Harris’ estranged husband Lavell Ingram told the Tribune. “She would never do anything to harm this baby. There was a lot of mental issues going on, and we failed to recognize it. And when we did recognize it, it was too late.”
