Nov. 09--Deon Gilbert liked school, was on the football team at Butler College Prep, attended church and dreamed of being an architect before his life was cut short after a Friday night shooting on the Southeast Side.
The 15-year-old boy was shot about 10:45 p.m. in the South Deering neighborhood, police said.
A friend who was with Deon told police they were walking north in the 10400 block of South Bensley Avenue when a dark-colored van with four unknown occupants approached, according to a police report.
The witness said when he and Deon heard one shot come from the car, they started running until Deon fell on the corner of East 104th Street and Bensley Avenue suffering from a gunshot wound to the right side of his abdomen, the report said. Nobody was in custody late Saturday.
Deon's mother, Ida Hall, 45, of the 8100 block of South Evans Avenue, said she rushed to Comer Children's Hospital, where her son was taken after the shooting. He was pronounced dead at 12:41 a.m. Saturday.
Standing in her living room beside the boy's father, Deon Sr., who cried as he rested his head on her shoulder, Hall said her son was a "good kid" and a homebody. Police said he had no criminal record or gang affiliations.
"Deon communicated with me and his dad too much to (be in a gang)," Hall said. "I always knew where he was or where he was going."
Relatives suspect the shooting was in response to a recent fight at school. Deon was suspended for six days after an incident in which he was "jumped," they said.
Deon had been visiting a friend who lives in the area of East 104th Street and Bensley Avenue when they decided to walk to a nearby store for snacks Friday night.
"He loved his snacks, like potato chips and juice," said Deon's aunt, Vivian Gordon, 40, who decried the "ridiculous" violence.
"Our kids are not even having a chance to grow up. My nephew wanted to go to college on a football scholarship. He wanted to be an architect," Gordon said. "Those were his dreams since he was a little boy."
Deon was the youngest of four children. His older sister, Marilyn Hall, 20, came home from Western Illinois University to be with her family after the shooting. She called on the people responsible to turn themselves in.
"Whoever did this to my little brother, guns ain't always the answer to everything, and he didn't deserve that," she said. "He had his whole life ahead of him."
