Community mourns high school student, decries gun violence at North Side Chicago vigil
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A teen killed steps away from his Edgewater neighborhood Chicago public high school was remembered by friends and the community Thursday night.
His shooting was one of just one of three that police are investigating in recent weeks that targeted or involved Chicago Public Schools students.
Students from Nicholas Senn High School and the surrounding Edgewater community all came together – asking when the gun violence will stop.
It was in broad daylight Wednesday at 3:36 p.m. when a shooting killed 16-year-old Daveon Gibson and wounded two other Senn students – boys ages 15 and 16. The shooting happened Thorndale Avenue between Lakewood and Magnolia avenues – about a block and a half east of the school.
Prayers, tears, and words of sympathy captured the emotions of those in Edgewater.
"I didn't know the youth who was killed, but no youth deserves to be killed intentionally," one vigil attendee said.
Chicago Police kept a watch as the group gathered in the 1200 block of West Thorndale Avenue – where Daveon's life came to an end right after dismissal from Senn, 5900 N. Glenwood Ave., on Wednesday.
"Lord, we want to pray for healing in our city," said Pastor Matt Sweetman of Trinity Church, located right outside the site of the shooting.
Pastor Sweetman organized the vigil because the community is stunned by the brazen shooting of the three Senn students.
"We want to ask for complete recovery of the other two victims," Pastor Sweetman said.
The pastor's 16-year-old son was friends with Daveon.
"He's someone that you wanted to know," said Jones Sweetman, "someone that you wanted to be friends with."
It turns out even strangers were there for the teen in his final moments.
"My daughter-in-law came out of her home yesterday, and as this child was dying, she held him in his arms until he died," said Peg Dublin, "and she will never be the same again."
The shooting near Senn comes less than a week after Monterio Williams, 17, and Robert Boston, 16, were shot and killed outside Innovations High School – right downtown in the first block of North Wabash Avenue near Washington Street – in the middle of the day this past Friday. Police said a car pulled up on the two teenage boys, and people got out and started shooting.
Back on Jan. 22, there was another deadly shooting outside a high school. Someone gunned down 18-year-old Muarice Clay outside CICS Loomis-Longwood on Throop Street at 95th Street in the Longwood Manor neighborhood.
The string of shootings near high schools has forced the Chicago Police Department to beef up patrols at CPS schools during dismissal and arrival.
"Our Police Department is going to continue to coordinate with our school community before and after - and there are a variety of interventions that will continue to be in place," Mayor Brandon Johnson said Thursday.
Back in Edgewater, residents refuse to wait solely on Chicago Police to help. The plan to organize.
"I feel like if we can create a safe passage, we can show these kids that we care," said Dublin.
As of Thursday night, there had been no update on the condition of the two surviving students in the Edgewater shooting. Chicago Police late Thursday were still looking for the shooters.
