My home town of Chicago continues to be plagued by gang violence. Children are often the victim of drive by shootings and gang gun fights. However, the intentional killing this week of 9-year-old Antonio Smith Jr., known as “Fat Baby” and “Hamburger,” has shocked many in the city. The four men are reportedly members of the Sircon City faction of the Gangster Disciples street gang and murdered Smith because they thought he had warned their intended victims, rival members of the Pocket Town gang.
According to police, it was Jabari Williams, 22, (the first picture above from the right) who handed the .380-caliber handgun to Derrick Allmon, 19, (the second picture above) after they arrived in two cars at the scene. Also charged is Michael D. Baker, 19, (third) and Paris Denard, 19, (fourth). The four accused men had spotted two men from the rival gang while driving in the neighborhood.
Allmon was just paroled from state prison in early August after serving about 1 1/2 year of a 3 1/2-year sentence on a weapons conviction. He has the word “Blessed” tattooed across his chest. Allmon allegedly threw the gun into a sewer as he fled from the shooting scene.
Adding to the anger over the crime is that fact that the gun used by in the crime was traced to a gun store in Indiana, which has less restrictive gun laws and does not require background checks, a waiting period or even a record of the transaction. Chicago has long complained that many of the guns used in such crimes come from Indiana.
It appears to have been Williams who led police to the others after being picked up on an unrelated gun charge and reportedly making “self-incriminating statements” about his involvement in the slaying.
Smith, in the fourth grade, was an honor roll student at Hinton Elementary School and played peewee football. Friends say that he was extremely smart and popular. He lived his short life along the dividing line of territory between the two gangs, a railroad track where his body was found.
At his funeral, they played his favorite song “Still Have Joy” by singer Tye Tribbett.
