Michael Williamson and Princeton Williamson speak April 8, 2016, about being shot by a Chicago police officer in 2014.

September 18, 2017, 7:12 p.m.

A federal jury on Monday awarded nearly $5 million in damages to three siblings who were shot and wounded by an on-duty Chicago police officer at a New Year's Eve party in the Roseland neighborhood three years ago.

 After a week and a half of testimony, the jury deliberated about eight hours beginning on Friday before finding that Officer Wilfredo Ortiz used excessive force in the Jan. 1, 2014, incident that wounded brothers Michael and Princeton Williamson as well as their sister, Kierra.

The jury awarded Michael Williamson, a Navy veteran who was on holiday leave at the time he was shot, $2.1 million in damages, his younger brother $1.65 million and their sister $1 million.

The city has also agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to the plaintiffs' attorneys in exchange for them dropping broader allegations that the city engaged in a "pattern and practice" of failing to properly investigate police-involved shootings.

The verdict marked the latest fallout in a case highlighted by the Tribune last year after a Cook County judge ripped the testimony of the lead detective on the case as "one of the biggest pieces of garbage" he'd ever heard from a law enforcement officer.

After the jury's decision was announced in U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman's courtroom, Michael Robbins, one of the lead attorney's for the plaintiffs, told the Tribune his clients felt "vindicated."

"Officer Ortiz completely lost control of the situation and opened fire on my clients under circumstances that were totally unjustified," Robbins said. "He fired 11 shots at a group of people into an occupied residence. ... It was truly beyond the pale."

In an emailed statement, Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the city's Law Department, said it is evaluating its legal options.

The shooting happened shortly before 2 a.m. after the Williamson brothers stepped outside on the back porch of their cousin's house for a smoke. As part of the celebration, police alleged, the brothers fired a gun into the air. Nearby, Ortiz, a tactical officer in plainclothes, heard gunshots and came up the alley next to the home in the 100 block of West 105th Street.

In his testimony to the Independent Police Review Authority, Ortiz said he locked eyes with Michael Williamson, whose expression "lit up like a Christmas tree." The officer said Williamson took a "tactical stance," squaring his shoulders and raising the gun, causing Ortiz to shoot out of fear for his life.

"I actually thought he was going to kill me," Ortiz said.

Michael Williamson was hit in the right shoulder, right hip and twice in the back, while his younger brother was shot in the abdomen, right leg and twice in the bladder, according to court records. Their sister, who was inside the house, was shot once in the abdomen.

Hours later, Princeton Williamson was heavily sedated after emergency surgery when detectives came to question him at his hospital bedside. One of the detectives, Brian Johnson, later testified that Williamson was alert and didn't appear to be in pain as he talked openly about what led to his shooting.

But two nurses gave dramatically different accounts from the detective, saying Williamson was heavily sedated and in so much discomfort he could only mumble his words. One nurse said she communicated with him by having him squeeze her hands to answer questions yes or no.

Both brothers were criminally charged, but Judge James Obbish threw out the statements that Johnson said he had obtained from Princeton Williamson and blasted the detective for his "garbage" testimony.

Obbish later acquitted Michael Williamson on aggravated assault and weapons charges, saying Ortiz had altered his account on a key point — how many people were on the back porch that night when he opened fire.