South Side man convicted of fatally shooting teen on CTA bus

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Milton Wardlaw

Updated: October 27, 2011 12:32AM

A South Side man was convicted Wednesday of fatally shooting a teenager on a CTA bus as he fired toward another passenger he was arguing with.

Milton Wardlaw, 27, was not acting in self-defense when he pointed the gun at the stranger who had bumped into him seconds earlier on the No. 71 bus, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorneys David Weiner and Karin Swanson said in their closing arguments.

Jurors weighing in on Wardlaw’s fate apparently agreed and convicted Wardlaw with first-degree murder in the death of Kiyanna Salter, 17. He also was found guilty of aggravated discharge of a firearm for shooting at the bus a second time as it drove off on Oct. 5, 2008.

Wardlaw showed no emotion as the verdicts were read after nearly five hours of deliberation. Salter’s mother quickly left the courtroom, sobbing loudly.

Earlier Wednesday, Wardlaw had admitted he pulled the trigger after he exited the bus at 71st and Woodlawn — an act that was captured on several CTA surveillance cameras. But Wardlaw testified that he was “scared” of the “man in the red hat” who touched his jacket pocket, displayed a silver gun and told him he’d shoot his “mother - - - - - - - face.”

“He looked at me real ugly,” Wardlaw said. “He put fear in my heart.”

Wardlaw later said he felt “horrible” knowing that his bullet struck Salter, a Julian High School student.

Three days before the shooting, Wardlaw said he was “jumped” by six men while he held his baby in his arms.

Wardlaw, who has an aggravated unlawful use of a weapon conviction, said the attack prompted him to buy gun for “protection.”

Because he was “threatened,” Wardlaw deserved a second-degree murder conviction, his attorney Ruth McBeth argued.

However, prosecutors described Wardlaw as the instigator of the minor argument between him and the other man, who was flirting with Salter and her friend. That passenger could be seen on the audio less CTA footage on his cell phone, interacting with Wardlaw and turning his back once Wardlaw stepped off.

“He [Wardlaw] wasn’t an afraid man. He was angry and he shot the gun to prove a point,” Swanson said.

Wardlaw surrendered at a South Side church two days after shooting at the urging of his mother, who recognized her son in the surveillance tapes released by the Chicago Police.

Wardlaw acknowledged Wednesday he lied to reporters at the time when he told them he never had a weapon on him.

Blair Holt, another Julian High School student, was killed on a CTA bus when a reputed gang member opened fire on May 10, 2007.