Six shot on South Side, four dead, relative arrested
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April 14, 2010
BY MARK J. KONKOL, ROSEMARY SOBOL, FRANK MAIN, KIM JANSSEN and KARA SPAK Staff Reporters
Three children and an adult were killed early this morning in Chicago’s Marquette Park neighborhood, and a relative from Madison, Wis., whom police believe was the shooter was later taken into custody.
Sources said the shooter told police “Allah” had told him to kill his family.
And he told the officer who arrested him, "Too bad I ran out of bullets," a source told the Chicago Sun-Times.
The dead included a woman believed to be the pregnant wife of the shooter; 16-year-old Keyshai Fields, who was four months pregnant; a 3-year-old girl named Keleasha Larry; and a 7-month-old boy who was the shooter's son, according to law enforcement officials and family members.
Family members said the dead 7-month-old was named Jihad.
Jihad is an Arabic word with multiple meanings, including holy war, striving in the way of Allah and struggle.
About an hour and a half after the shootings, police arrested a 32-year-old man at South Racine and West 59th.
“We do have who we believe is the offender in custody, and we believe we have the weapon used,” said Roderick Drew, spokesman for the Chicago Police Department.
Ella Smith, a relative of the family, said she got a call from a hysterical woman in the house at 4:30 a.m.
“She said [the suspect] shot up everybody in the house,” Smith said.
Smith said the dead included the man’s pregnant wife, who was also beaten, and his son.
The shooting occurred at 4:25 a.m. at a house in the 7200 block of South Mozart Street.
Two of the dead were found in one bedroom, the other two dead in a second bedroom, police said.
Two others in the home who were shot were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. They are believed to be the children’s 57-year-old grandmother, Leona Larry, who was visiting from Wisconsin, and a 13-year-old boy.
“It’s really horrendous,” Chicago Lawn District Police Commander John Kupczyk said. “Something like this is pretty incomprehensible.”
A hospital spokesman said Leona Larry remained in critical condition this morning. She would not give a condition update on the boy because of his age. Smith said he was shot in the head. A source said he was taken to surgery in critical condition.
According to a police source, a 12-year-old girl who was inside the house, got away and ran to a gas station called 911, saying her uncle had come from Wisconsin with his wife and began shooting family members.
The man shot at the girl as she tried to escape, a source said.
Antwonnierra Fields, 16, who was Keyshai’s half-sister, stood in the street a half block from the shooting scene, weeping.
“My sister’s gone,” she said, wailing. “Oh, my God, my sister’s gone. She was my best friend.”
She said Keyshai Fields was four months pregnant but still aspired to attend college. The teen cooked for her family almost every night and loved taking care of her younger siblings, she said.
Antwonnierra Fields often stayed at the home of the shooting but wasn’t there this morning because she was visiting two friends who had been shot in a separate incident at 72nd and Rockwell several days ago.
“She was a really sweet girl,” she said of Keyshai.
Shakeitha Myers, 17, was a friend of Keyshai Fields, who family members said attended Chicago’s Robeson High School.
"[Keyshai] was my best friend," Myers said. "She was like my sister. She liked talking and shopping and wanted to be a model. She had the body for it."
She last saw Keyshai at night school on Tuesday.
"She was looking forward to taking care of her baby," Myers said.
Shaquille Myers, 15, said Keyshai planned to get a job at McDonald’s to take care of her baby.
Contributing: Tina Sfondeles and Caroline Kyungae Smith
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