Two boys, ages 14 and 17, have been charged with murder in connection with a fatal shooting outside a North Side high school last month that left one student dead and two others wounded, Chicago police officials announced Wednesday.
Around 4 p.m. on Jan. 31, 16-year-old Daveon Gibson was walking with two other Senn High School students in the 1200 block of West Thorndale when several shooters got out of a vehicle and opened fire. Gibson, who lived in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, was pronounced dead a short time later, and the two other victims suffered gunshot wounds, as well.
The two teen suspects were both arrested in the Uptown neighborhood Wednesday after CPD detectives used surveillance footage to track the stolen Honda CRV used in the shooting, according to police. Both were scheduled to make their initial appearances Wednesday in Cook County Juvenile Court.
Both teens were charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder, according to police. The 14-year-old was also charged with two counts of aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm.
“We were committed to bringing justice in this case,” Superintendent Larry Snelling, flanked by detectives who worked the case, said during a news conference at CPD headquarters. “We did this for the two surviving victims and the family of the teen who lost his life. I also want to thank the community members who came forward with information that helped us throughout this information. As a police department, we can’t do this alone. Having the help from the community always helps, and they stepped up.”
Antoinette Ursitti, CPD’s chief of detectives, said the two suspects are not Senn students, though the shooting followed an “altercation” between the groups.
A day after the shooting, about 50 people attended a vigil near the school.
Peg Dublin did not witness the shooting, but she told the crowd how her daughter-in-law, who lives nearby, held Daveon in her arms after he was shot, as he was dying. Her daughter-in-law was “not doing well,” still shaken by the tragedy, Dublin said.
“She held him in her arms until he died, and she will never be the same again, as will the family never be the same again,” Dublin said at the vigil.
Less than a week before the Senn shooting, two other teens were shot and killed outside a high school in the Loop.
The two victims were among a group on Wabash Avenue when gunmen exited a vehicle and opened fire, police previously said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the two victims as 17-year-old Monterio Williams and 16-year-old Robert Boston, both of the Near West Side neighborhood. No charges have been filed in their killings.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Board of Education is set to introduce a resolution this week that would remove school resource officers from CPS facilities.
Asked about the possible removal of SROs, Snelling acknowledged that the decision lies with the board of education.
“Whatever decision is made there, it is no reflection on the great work our police officers were doing in schools while mentoring the children there,” Snelling said. “Those officers were trained to be in the schools. So, if those officers are removed from the schools, CPD is going to continue to do what we’ve always done: Protect our children, protect the streets.”
Chicago Tribune’s Alysa Guffey contributed.
