Chicago Congressman's grandson shot to death in dispute over shoes
CHICAGO -- U.S. Rep. Danny Davis says his grandson was the victim of an environment where guns “become commonplace, it’s almost, just the way it is.”
Chicago Police spokeswoman Officer Michelle Tannehill told the Chicago Tribune that 15-year-old Javon Wilson died Friday night at the scene in the Englewood neighborhood on the city’s South Side.
Davis, a Chicago Democrat, told The Associated Press his grandson, Wilson, was a “pretty regular kid” who loved basketball and music and was a “pretty solid student.”
Davis says he has been told a 15-year-old boy had traded slacks for gym shoes with Wilson’s 14-year-old brother and went to Wilson’s house with a 17-year-old woman to reverse the trade when the boy shot Wilson.
Davis wonders how the 15-year-old boy obtained a gun and who allowed him to have it. He says the answer is that “the availability of guns is so prevalent in America you almost can’t tell who has a gun” anymore.
“I grieve for my family,” Davis said, CBS Chicago reports.. “I grieve for the young man who pulled the trigger. I grieve for his family, his parents, his friends, some of whom will never see him again.”
Wilson’s mother had just left to pick up food before the shooting, leaving the boy with his two brothers, ages 8 and 14; his 16-year-old sister, and an uncle, Davis said.
“What could have prevented this tragedy? Better education, more supervision after school activity. Better parenting,” Davis said.
Police have identified a person of interest in the shooting, according to a tweet posted by CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi Saturday morning. He said the shooting was not random and was not the result of a home invasion, but that it stemmed from a dispute between teenagers about gym shoes.
