On Friday, the Chicago Police Department announced the 15-year-old grandson of U.S. Representative Danny Davis, Jovan Wilson, was fatally shot in a home invasion in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune reported the home invasion and shooting stemmed from a “dispute over gym shoes.”
Chicago Police Department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told The Tribune this was not an isolated incident as Wilson and the shooter had known each other. Wilson had been at his home in Chicago’s south side neighborhood of Englewood with his two siblings, when two teenage assailants entered their home. The conversation became heated over a pair of sneakers and then one of the teenage assailants shot Wilson in the head.
Davis, who has been representing Illinois’ 7th district since 1997, said he was devastated by the shooting saying “it’s totally disconcerting,” and that Wilson “was a typical 15-year-old.” Wilson’s recent death highlights the ever growing gun violence issue in Chicago. DNAinfo Chicago reported there have been more than 650 homicides this year, up from 2015’s total of 494. When asked if his grandson’s death represents the current state of the city, Davis said it “reinforces a lot of things:”
“Well, I think it just reinforces a lot of things we already know. There’s an awful lot of people in Chicago who are in need of help, who need help to heal them and share their ideas and personalities. There’s a need for them to have jobs and employment opportunities and there’s a need for young people especially to have more effective instruction…and his [Wilson] being shot is just simply a manifestation of the tremendous urban crisis that we are facing in Chicago.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the police department recently announced a plans to introduce programs to help at-risk youth in the city, in the hopes it will help curb gun violence and shootings.
(Via Chicago Tribune & WGN-TV & DNAinfo Chicago)