A suspect was in custody Tuesday in the shooting death of a city of Chicago employee who was found fatally wounded earlier this year in her residence on the city’s Far North Side.
An arrest warrant on a first-degree murder charge was issued on Aug. 26 for Darreon Plummer, 33, who is accused of killing 36-year-old Da’J Flowers on Feb. 6 in a residence they shared in the 6900 block of North Bell Avenue in the West Ridge community, officials said. He was Flowers’ boyfriend, according to her family.
She died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Flowers’ brother, Demone Flowers, said in an interview Monday that police told his family about the development, and that Plummer is in custody in Washington state, just north of Seattle.
A Chicago police spokesman could not confirm that information, saying only the investigation was ongoing. However, records show Plummer is currently in custody with the Snohomish County, Washington sheriff’s office, and was booked by the sheriff’s office on Sept. 1.
Per Snohomish County Court records, Plummer appeared before a Washington state judge Sept. 2 for a warrant identification hearing. Records show he signed a waiver of extradition the same day.
As of Tuesday morning, Plummer remained in Washington state. It wasn’t immediately clear when he’d be brought back to Chicago.
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“My sister was never a violent, malicious person. She never was someone who got into a lot of altercations or any violent things towards anyone,” said Demone Flowers, 35. “She was always a loving and caring person. … She spent her time trying to help people.”
After her death, Cook County Crime Stoppers announced it was offering a reward of up to $10,000 for any information leading to the arrest of her killer.
Prior to her death, Da’J Flowers had been working in the Freedom of Information Act division of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, as well as its subpoena unit, and worked as a senior administrative assistant, according to OEMC spokeswoman Mary May.
Before Flowers’ time at OEMC, she worked for the Chicago Department of Public Health, May said.
Flowers’ brother said she had also been seeking a promotion around the time of her death.
“My sister (was) a jack of all trades, to be honest,” he said.
But Da’J Flowers was not the first loved one of Demone Flowers to succumb to Chicago violence this year. In July, he said their mother, 53-year-old Surbezz Clark, was killed in a shooting outside a gas station in the city’s Auburn Gresham community on the South Side.
In that shooting, which occurred near West 76th and South Halsted streets, another person was also killed, and two others were wounded. No one was in custody for the shooting.
“Our family has gotten a lot closer, our immediate family,” Demone Flowers said. “Things like that and just working, keeping me motivated and just knowing the spirit of my sister and knowing that she was always a person that she’s going to get up and go to work. She’s going to make ends meet. She’s going to live the right way and she’s never been a person to sit around and just, you know, wallow in … pity.
“So it just keeps me motivated to get up every day,” Demone Flowers continued about his sister. “I’ve got pictures of her all around, so I talk to her every day. I kiss her and I talk to her every day and that’s what kind of keeps me motivated.”