The murder of 15-year-old Javon Wilson, who was fatally shot during an alleged home invasion Friday night on Chicago’s South Side, has one of the state’s most prominent political personalities in deep mourning.
Wilson was the grandson of Congressman Danny K. Davis (7th), who learned of the shooting while in his office, said his senior adviser, Tumia Rumero. She added that Davis and his son are “totally devastated” by the incident.
“No one wants to bury their kids, especially their grandkids,” she said during an interview on Sunday in front of the Congressman’s West Side office.
In a statement released Saturday morning, Davis said that he was “saddened to report earlier this evening that two individuals forced their way into my grandson’s home.”
According to Chicago Police, Wilson was at his home in the city’s Englewood community with his uncle and three teenage siblings, a sister and two brothers ranging from 8 to 14 years old, when two teenagers, walked into the house and started arguing with Wilson.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that there “was a history between the young people involved and it was a dispute was over gym shoes.”
During the altercation, the 15-year-old shot Wilson in the head with a gun he had been carrying.
On Friday, Chicago Police announced that a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were each facing charges of home invasion and first-degree murder. On Sunday, they were both denied bail.
“Unfortunately, this is another example of a fifteen year old with a gun who should have never had it,” Davis noted in the statement. “Where did the gun come from? How did he get it?”
Davis said that “better education, more supervision, after school activity and better parenting” could have prevented his grandson’s murder.
“The Congressman feels like the violence, the reentry efforts and the poverty efforts he’s been engaged in — all of it is connected and he believes we need to look at it from a state of emergency perspective and usher in as many resources to communities devastated by poverty,” said Rumero.
During an interview on Sunday, Davis said that his grandson’s siblings and parents “are very, very distraught.”
“All of them are going through the experience of trying to understand and are asking the question, ‘Why Javon? Why us? Why did this happen? How could it have been defended?'”
Davis said that, although he was heartened by the news that suspects had been captured and charged in connection to Wilson’s murder, he takes no glee in it.
“I’m not excited about [their capture],” David said Sunday. “That’s not my approach or feeling. I would also want to make sure that their rights are protected, that they have every protection that our judicial system provides for them and I’m sure that justice will prevail in the end. But we’re still asking questions and trying to figure out how we prevent this from happening.”
The Congressman said that he’s received support from across the country, including calls from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
On Nov. 19, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. released a statement
My deepest condolences go out to Rep. Davis and his family as well as to the 700 other Chicago families – the 700 other grandparents, the 700 other mothers and fathers, the 700 sisters and brothers, the 700 aunts, uncles and cousins – who know and share the same heartbreaking pain and soul-numbing sorrow.”
As of press time, no funeral arrangements for Wilson had been finalized.
The funeral services for Javon Wilson, the 15-year-old grandson of Congressman Danny K. Davis (7th) who was fatally shot last Friday were announced today.
