Dec. 01--Graze wound, right upper back. One superficial wound, right forearm. Two perforating gunshot wounds, right hand, with thumb partially amputated, as if victim was trying to block the gunshot. Gunshot wound to the head. There was evidence of close range firing.
-- Cook County prosecutors' accounting of gunshot wounds documented in the autopsy of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee.
Any time is a grand time to be 9 years old. But early November is special, the post-Halloween bridge from warm autumn play weather to all those upcoming vacation days. How sensible, then, for Tyshawn Lee to stop at Dawes Park en route to his grandmother's house. He set down his basketball. Within minutes it would lie on the ground, a helpless companion, near his 83-pound corpse.
A basketball, even a favorite basketball that goes everywhere with a boy, can't warn him. Can't protect him. Can't tell police and prosecutors who shot the boy five times, including the shot through his head that made sure he couldn't talk with anyone about the atrocity he suffered in an alley on Chicago's South Side.
More than 400 times a year in this city, killers snuff out lives. Most of the victims are young but not this young. Put a digit in front of Tyshawn's age -- a 1 or a 2 -- and he'd be an unremarkable entry on Chicago's long roll of the dead. But because intentionally slaughtering 9-year-olds still is uncommon, many among us are paying uncommon attention.
If only all of us could pay attention to every victim of the terrorist cells also known as Chicago street gangs. Then we never would grow numb to the calculation, the viciousness, of these killings. Instead we would demand that Illinois lawmakers toughen the penalties for gun crimes. And we would encourage Chicago's 50 aldermen, the putative little mayors of their wards, to get far more involved in mobilizing strong communities that will not tolerate chronic violence.
The way prosecutors have laid it out in court, Tyshawn is dead because one terrorist cell was in extended combat with another. We won't replay here the elaborate, familiar saga of why members of one gang wanted to avenge shootings allegedly perpetrated by a gang that includes Tyshawn's father. Assistant State's Attorney George Canellis Jr. said of a defendant in the slaying of Tyshawn: "He allegedly said since his brother was killed and his mama was shot he was going to kill grandmas, mamas, kids and all."
That rage allegedly came to focus on Tyshawn, frolicking on a swing set in a play lot at Dawes. The authorities say three suspects had been driving around daily, firearms in tow, seeking their revenge. They exited a black SUV at the park, then departed, then returned and walked to the play lot. Two departed in the SUV; the remaining suspect picked up the boy's basketball and dribbled it a few times before returning it to Tyshawn.
Prosecutors say that "Tyshawn and this individual were then seen walking off together, out of the park and into the alley just off of Damen and across from the park" near 80th Street and Damen Avenue. The black SUV reappeared and followed them into the alley. "Once Tyshawn reached approximately the middle of the alley he was ultimately shot multiple times as witnesses did hear several gunshots," a prosecution document states. One assailant allegedly did the shooting while the other two watched from the vehicle. Then they sped away.
The Tribune reported Saturday that the fourth-grader's basketball was found lying a few feet from his body.
We don't yet know how police and prosecutors are building their case against the three suspects. But prosecutors said authorities had recovered the SUV, and GPS data put it at Dawes a few minutes before Tyshawn was shot to death. One suspect has been charged in the killing; one is jailed on unrelated charges; at this writing, authorities are searching for the third.
In the wake of the killing of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer, there is much discussion in Chicago -- we hope productive discussion -- about policing and crime, shootings and victims. One task for all of us is to keep maddening cases separate from one another, in our minds and in our discourse.
This killing should enrage Chicagoans. Someone felt comfortable using this city as the ideal locale for his revenge -- as a safe place to kill a 9-year-old boy.
Judge Peggy Chiampas sounded enraged when she ordered one suspect held without bail, shouting that she had to protect "grandmothers, mothers and children" from him. "This was a predator grabbing his prey and luring that child into an alley (to be) executed by a close-range gunshot wound. This poor 9-year-old boy stuck in the middle of a gang war by adults is playing on a swing."
Whatever path the discussion of public safety in Chicago takes, one thought should stay in all of our minds:
Don't lose sight of Tyshawn Lee. Ever.
