Jacele’s father Marcel Johnson walked into the emergency room lobby with hollow glossy eyes and an exhausted face just after 4 a.m. His eyes caught Trennetta Gresham’s and the two shared a somber glance.
He has been on the road almost all night from Minneapolis to Chicago, jumping into a car as soon as he heard that his only child, Jacele, was shot.
The lobby was empty except for a security officer and half a dozen relatives here because Jacelle was shot. Trennetta sat there with her legs crossed, body trembling, among other family and friends.
“I close my eyes and it’s all in front of me,” Gresham said.
As of early Saturday morning, family members again said 4-year-old Jacele Johnson’s condition had stabilized. She had surgery where doctors unsuccessfully tried to remove a bullet from her head, Gresham said.
“(Jacele) is a fighter,” Gresham said as she cried. “I have three kids, and I have no favorites. But me and Jacele have a special bond. … That’s my best friend.”
Gresham said one of Jacele’s favorite things to do is to listen to rap music because her father used to rap. Her favorite song is “No Type” by Rae Stremmurd, she said.
“Princess Jacele … She’d be acting like a princess one day, and the next — she is a tomboy,” Gresham said, smiling through tears. “Even if you’re sad, she’s gonna make you happy.”
Gresham had lived in Minneapolis together with her 10-year-old son, 7-year-old daughter and Jacele for seven years but moved back to Chicago about three months ago to help a family member open a daycare center. She thought of starting a barbershop in the city and maybe raising her children here.
But she realized about a month ago the city wouldn’t be home, for her or her kids. She was through with the South Side, where she was born and raised and where her family still lives.
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Tribune reporters Lauren Zumbach and Rosemary Regina Sobol contributed to this report.
Photo: Police investigate the scene where three people were shot, including a child, in the 7000 block of South Justine Street in the West Englewood neighborhood May 22, 2015. (Eric Clark, baiduhai)