Man charged in woman's shooting death in West Loop apartment

A man has been charged with fatally shooting a woman inside a West Loop apartment on New Year’s Day.

Officers were called just before 8 p.m. to the Harvest Commons apartment complex at 1519 W. Warren Blvd., where they found a 33-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the head and a .380-caliber cartridge nearby in her second-floor apartment, according to court documents.

Witnesses told police they last saw the woman with Johnnie Matthews, 42, who lives on a different floor in the building, and that the two had been arguing earlier that day, court documents said.

The woman was identified as Kristina Romandine by the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which listed her address in Bay Minette, Alabama, though a police report indicated she resided in the West Loop apartment.

While officers were on scene, Matthews returned to the apartment and agreed to an interview with Area 3 detectives in which he allegedly admitted his involvement in the shooting death, according to court documents.

Surveillance video footage also showed Matthews discarding a black backpack a block away, which officers later found with a loaded .380-caliber handgun, court documents said.

Matthews is charged with one felony count each of first-degree murder and possession of a weapon by a felon.

He was ordered detained pending trial at a court appearance Saturday. His next court date is Tuesday.