Wisconsin man arrested in murder of Chicago dad who was shot while driving daughter to school

18-year-old arrested in murder of Chicago father

Travell Miller was hit four times as he bent over to protect his 7-year-old daughter, who was in the passenger seat and was uninjured, according to family.

CHICAGO - A teen has been charged with fatally shooting a father who was driving his daughter to school on the West Side in September.

Avanta Ware, 18, was arrested Friday afternoon in Wisconsin, Chicago police said. He will be extradited to Cook County to face charges in the murder of 33-year-old Travell Miller.

Miller’s father said he was relieved to hear about the arrest.

"This gives a slight ease to my family who’s been sitting over here hurting," Joseph Gilmore said. "It lightens the blow a little bit."

It comes more than a month after police issued a warrant for Ware's arrest, releasing very clear surveillance photos to the public.

"It helped the community recognize who he was and they are the ones that called in to let detectives know who this was, where he lived, who his family is", said Gillmore.

Miller was gunned down Sept. 1 while stopped in traffic on Chicago Avenue at Sacramento Blvd. Ware allegedly got out of another car, walked up and opened fire.

Chicago dad shot and killed while driving daughter to school

Travell Miller’s last act before dying in an ambush on the West Side was shielding his 7-year-old daughter from gunfire and possibly saving her life, his family says.

Miller was hit four times as he bent over to protect his 7-year-old daughter, who was in the passenger seat and was uninjured, according to family.

"She’s traumatized about what happened, she sat there watching him die," Gilmore said.

Police believe the motive was likely road rage.

Police identified Ware as the gunman in late September and charged him in Miller’s murder.

Ware was also wanted for two counts of carjacking in Berwyn.

"As a Black man, I feel sorry for him that he’d go down like this attacking his own community," Gilmore said of the suspect.

Gilmore tells FOX 32 the last two months have been devastating and traumatic for their family. His son had only lived in Chicago a year and worked as a bartender at Navy Pier.