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A Chicago family made an emotional plea for their 12-year-old son's killer to come forward after the boy was fatally shot while sitting next to his twin brother as their car pulled out of an Indiana gas station over the weekend.
In a Monday press conference, the family and a community activist announced a $2,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the unknown gunman, WMAQ-TV reported.
Demetrius Townsel Jr. was shot around 9:00 p.m. Saturday in the town of Gary, about a 30-minute drive from his Chicago neighborhood, according to WGN-TV.
His twin brother, Darius, who was sitting beside him, applied pressure to the wound as the driver raced to Methodist Hospitals Northlake campus.
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Demetrius Townsel Jr., 12, was shot and killed in Gary, Ind. Saturday. (Fox 32)
The driver was briefly pulled over by police and, upon learning what happened, the officer helped escort the vehicle to the hospital, carrying the boy into the building, Gary Police Commander Jack Hamady said.
Demetrius was pronounced dead by 9:36 p.m. Saturday night, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office. Police said there were five people in the car at the time of the shooting: the two brothers, a 21-year-woman who was driving, and two other passengers under the age of 17, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Demetrius' mother, Katherine Brown, said her sons had gone to Gary with their cousins to visit an aunt.
"Please turn yourself in. I go home empty. I miss his laugh. I miss him," Brown said Monday.
"Why would you take my baby’s life? My baby was just 12 years old," the boy’s father, Demetrius Townsel, Sr., added, according to WMAQ-TV. "How could you take that from me?"
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"Somebody in this neighborhood knows who took this baby’s life," Andrew Holmes, a community activist, said at the press conference. "What about his graduation? What about his future?"
Gary Chief of Police Richard Ligon said he placed five detectives and five patrol officers on the case.
“We need your help, after that you’ll see the result — how this community can be safe,” Ligon said.
The suspected shooter, described as a black man with a thin build, dreadlocks, and all-black clothing, was on foot when he shot into the vehicle, according to authorities.
“We can talk about hope and change," Gary Mayor Jerome Prince said. "But what we’re here to do today is to make it expressly clear that instances like this make absolutely no sense and from the city’s perspective and certainly that of law enforcement, these instances will not be tolerated.”
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Brown said her son was in the sixth grade at Bailey Academy on the south side of Chicago. His favorite classes were math and gym. He lived in Chicago’s Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood.
Anyone with information is asked to call Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit at 219-755-3855 or the Crime Tip Line at 866-CRIME-GP.
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