A shooter, a 4-year-old, a mom and blood-soaked jeans
Four-year-old Jacele Johnson, a bullet in her head, writhed in her mother's arms while her mother screamed the child's name to keep her from slipping into unconsciousness. Jacele had been...
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‘We got a beautiful city, but it has some evil people’
Before it was clear that Jacele had a chance at survival, the emergency room grew crowded and hectic. Hospital staff called University of Chicago police to calm agitated family members...
‘Jacele is a fighter’
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...
Quiet … then commotion as wounded girl appears
More than a dozen officers, detectives and investigators remained at the scene on Justine for four hours after the shooting. The block was brightest when lit by the flash of...
‘Nobody could tell me that makes sense for a 4-year-old to get shot’
Jacele was not the only one hit. Her 17-year-old cousin was left in serious condition with wounds to his neck and chest — he had jumped forward when the shooting...
‘They shoot out here every day’
Standing on Exchange Avenue at 81st Street, looking up at the police helicopter, was the first time I didn't feel like I was in Chicago. When a helicopter is straight...
‘Yes sir, I feel guilty about it’
Left with his guilt outside the apartment, apart from the family, was a cousin of Foggey's father. Odis Looney was a Gangster Disciple – when the GDs were an actual...
‘What gets me is how comfortable these kids are’
Darren Foggey Jr. was a casualty in an ongoing conflict between groups of kids that live on either side of Western Avenue, according to police. Just a week earlier, police...
Father watches for son’s body to be taken away
Darren Foggey Sr. saw the body of his son, Darren Jr., for a split second and walked away, under yellow police tape and yellow street lamps south on Artesian Avenue....
‘They don’t believe it but (the police) showed me his face’
The two detectives stood over the 14-year-old boy and lifted the blue sheet covering his body, focusing a flashlight underneath. As the sheet came off, the sobs from relatives grew...