“Here, Daddy, I Got You an Ice Cream”: 9-Year-Old Girl’s Final Words Before Neighbor Shot Her Dead

A nine-year-old Chicago girl had just returned from buying ice cream for herself and her father when she spoke words that would become an unbearably painful memory for her family.

“Here, Daddy, I got you an ice cream.”

Those were the words Sarabi “BiBi” Medina reportedly said to her father, Michael Medina, shortly before she was shot and killed outside their apartment in August 2023.

More than three years later, the man responsible has finally learned his fate. Michael Goodman, 46, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 40 years in prison without the possibility of parole on November 5, 2026.

The shooting happened on the evening of August 5, 2023, in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood. Sarabi had been riding her scooter outside her family’s apartment building while her father spoke with friends.

One of the adults gave her money to buy ice cream from a nearby truck. She returned with two cones, one for herself and one for her father.

According to prosecutors, a short time later, a gunshot rang out nearby. Her father told her to take her scooter and go inside.

But as Sarabi approached the entrance, Goodman, who lived across the street, allegedly emerged from his apartment carrying a handgun.

Prosecutors said he walked toward the child and shot her in the head. Her father desperately rushed to intervene, but Goodman followed Sarabi toward the apartment entrance and fired.

Michael Medina tackled Goodman during the struggle. The gun discharged again, striking Goodman in the left eye and leaving him blind on that side.

Sarabi was rushed to hospital in critical condition but could not be saved.

Gunman claimed he could not remember the shooting

During court proceedings, Goodman’s defense described his mental health struggles and his use of ketamine, a drug he said he had obtained through the dark web after antidepressants failed to help him.

In a statement read by his attorney, Goodman said he had taken several doses of the drug on the day of the shooting, exceeding the recommended amount. He claimed he began experiencing suicidal thoughts and had little memory of what happened afterward.

“The last part of the vague memory I have is walking through my front door,” he said.

He also said he did not remember shooting Sarabi.

However, her father rejected the explanation, saying he had been present and had desperately tried to stop the attack.

“He was focusing on killing my daughter,” Michael Medina told ABC7 Chicago after the sentencing.

Family left to mourn a little girl who never came home

Sarabi’s death devastated her family and neighborhood. She had been preparing to begin fourth grade at Reinberg Elementary School and was remembered by people who knew her as a cheerful child who loved riding her scooter.

Her death was especially painful for her father, who had already experienced the loss of his partner, Sarabi’s mother, Blanca Miranda, who was shot and killed in 2018.

During the sentencing hearing, relatives delivered emotional statements describing the lasting impact of losing the little girl.

One of her cousins spoke about attending court proceedings throughout the case and the importance of seeing the man responsible held accountable.

The judge, Tyria Walton, sentenced Goodman to 40 years in prison, which he must serve in full. He will receive credit for approximately three years already spent in custody.

When a family member asked for a longer sentence, the judge noted that Goodman would be 83 years old if he lived to complete the term.

For Sarabi’s loved ones, the sentence marks the end of a long legal battle, but not the end of their grief.

A simple act of kindness — a little girl bringing her father an ice cream cone — became one of the final memories he would ever have of his daughter.

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