Ashley Jackson chatted and laughed with Chavez Clarke during English class at Simeon Career Academy on Saturday afternoon.
Minutes later, she was terrified to see her 18-year-old classmate gunned down in the parking lot of the South Side school?just steps from her car, where she hid inside.
“A whole bunch of boys started running toward my car,” Jackson, 18, said Sunday afternoon. “All of a sudden I heard a gunshot and the boy fell to the ground.”
Clarke of the 7900 block of South Colfax Avenue was shot in the chest, and his death was ruled a homicide, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Clarke, the 20th Chicago student killed in gun violence this school year, was pronounced dead at 4:34 p.m. Saturday in Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Four teenagers, ages 16 to 18, remained in custody Sunday, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. All are students enrolled in area high schools, but none attend Simeon. A weapon has been recovered, Bond said.
“It’s safe to say there was some type of argument that precipitated the incident,” Bond said. “It is possible that there was some type of gang involvement. However, we still have not determined a motive at this point.”
Clarke had just emerged from Simeon, where, like Jackson, he was taking classes to recoup high school credits, authorities said.
In a shooting Friday, police still were seeking answers in the death of Miguel Pedro, 15, an 8th grader at Nobel Elementary School. Pedro was fatally shot while walking to a store a block away from his home in the 1500 block of North Keeler Avenue.
No arrests have been made, officials said.
Crisis counselors will be at Pedro’s and Clarke’s respective schools Monday. Chicago Public Schools spokesman Michael Vaughn said school security and police officers would provide “”an additional presence where that is needed.”
Another teen, a 14-year-old girl, was shot in the hand and shoulder in the 1600 block of West 85th Street about 9 p.m. Saturday, police said. There were no suspects in custody.
“This month has just been devastating to us, and the prevalence of guns in our kids’ lives is just absolutely unacceptable,” Vaughn said.
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“It’s just taking too high a toll.”
For Jackson, the Simeon shooting was traumatic.
“I was shocked,” Jackson said. “I never saw anything like that before. I couldn’t believe it. I thought the killer was going to come back and start shooting everyone else.”
Now, she’s afraid to return to school–and wonders what has caused such violence among Chicago students.
Guns, she said, have turned school violence into something that now is often fatal.
“It gives them power. Nowadays, they don’t fight no more. They just shoot you,” she said, adding, “I’m afraid. I can’t sleep.”
Jackson’s comments came after services Sunday at her South Side church, the Apostolic Assembly of the Lord Jesus Christ, where Bishop Jerry L. Jones and congregation members prayed for her, Clarke and the assailants.
“Yes, it’s awful,” Jones said. “Yes, it’s terrible. But what’s more terrible, more awful, is for us to turn our faces and do nothing.”
He urged church members to become active in the schools, and with young people, to join others trying to stop the wave of school violence that has killed many students this year.
Jackson also spoke to members of the congregation, describing the terror of seeing a classmate gunned down so close to her.
“I just got through talking to him, and I did not know less than 2 minutes later he would be killed,” Jackson told the congregation, her voice breaking. “I just thank God, though,” she said. “It could have been me.”
She fell back into the arms of church elders and was calmed by family members as the congregation held out their arms in prayer.
A memorial of balloons, flowers and teddy bears was assembled for Clarke near a tree in the school parking lot in the 8100 block of South Vincennes Avenue.
Neighbors near Clarke’s South Chicago home described him as a quiet, hardworking teen with a tight circle of friends who steered clear of trouble. News of his death slowly spread through the community and took many by surprise.
Clarke’s family declined to comment Sunday.
Religious leaders and community activists plan a rally downtown Tuesday in the wake of the two shootings, said Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church on the city’s South side. “We should be outraged that 20 children are dead from guns this school year,” Pfleger said. “That’s a classroom.”
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