Sunday, December 4, 2011

Young Man Lies Dead On Sidewalk After Drive-By

After weeks of firing shots at one another, Uptown's gangbangers finally succeeded in their quest to kill someone.  It happened shortly after 2AM on Winthrop, just south of Lawrence.

We have varying reports, but it seems to have happened at 4751 N Winthrop.  The victim was a young black man with cornrows, wearing jeans and a black jacket.  It was a drive-by shooting; a silver grey Subaru station wagon fired eight shots, then sped away down Winthrop.  The victim was hit in the head and was found lying on the sidewalk next to the parking lot on the east side of the street.  Shell casings were found around 20 feet away from where his body still lies, at 5AM.  The police told responding medical personnel to leave; there was nothing left for them to do.

It's just all so tedious and all so meaningless.  This young man's family and friends will suffer his loss for the rest of their lives.  And for what?  Nothing will be accomplished by his murder, just as nothing has been accomplished by any of the previous gang murders we've had happen in Uptown over the past few years.

No, just another life cut short, for no good reason.  We'll see a Facebook page, a sidewalk memorial, the honest grief of those who loved this young man ... and his death will accomplish nothing.  Just so sad and so completely avoidable.  Want to stop mourning the deaths of people you know and love?  STOP SHOOTING AT ONE ANOTHER.

And what has been the result of this young man's death?  Nine shots fired in rapid succession shortly after 4AM, somewhere on Wilson.

They never learn.  Never.


Update:  The Tribune identifies the victim as Edward Clark of the 4800 block of Winthrop.

45 comments:

  1. R.I.P EDWARD CLARK
    (LIL EDDIE)
    WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS THE PAIN U AM FEELING WE GREW UP TOGETHER LOSING YOU IS TOO CLOSE TO HOME THRU IT ALL OUR UPS & DOWNS
    I LOVE YOU SO MUCH
    R.I.P

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  2. I heard the shots, looked out the window and saw what looked like a very new, shiny silver, grey subaru station wagon stopped, then speed away south on Winthrop.

    I directed the police officers to where I saw the Subaru and they found the shell casings there.

    The boy who was shot lie in a pool of blood around his head, he appeared to have been shot in the face, his face seemed swollen and was bloody. He was about 20 yards from where the Subaru was parked and where the shots were fired.

    No ambulance ever came. I saw no medical personnel ever. After 20 minutes I called for an ambulance and they said they might not send one because maybe he was dead and the police can determine if he was dead. I told them that was bullshit, and that a qualified person determines death and police are not doctors or paramedics.

    He appeared dead, that doesn't mean he's dead.

    I thought the police were disorganized. That's my impression. They were wandering around and I explained to them I saw the car. A couple of the officers wrote down what I told them and then they wrote down what other people told them, one of the stories was about a person on a bike. They didn't seem to know what to do about putting a story together, finding who was a witness. People had to go up to them to say they heard the shots, they were not organized in their questions or in any way coordinated. That's my impression.

    The body appeared to lie there as late as 4pm.

    About 6am I heard wailing sounds, some people apparently mourning his death.

    This isn't the first time I have seen shooters fleeing.
    There are many gun shots in this neighborhood. There one in my bannister from 15 years ago before I moved in. The previous owner showed it to me.

    More police won't make any difference. Police come to a crime scene after the crime occurs.

    Getting rid of guns is something that can be approached. This is a very difficult problem.
    Legalizing some drugs would have an impact.

    Romanticizing guns, murder, killing, promoting these meaningless wars and glorifying the politicians and the soldiers they use to kill people would make a much greater difference. The idea of being "somebody" a hollywood movie star or a gangster killer (or both sometimes) ought to be exposed for the fraud that it is. It's bullshit. Hollywood is bullshit with it's talentless writers, actors, directors who promote the idea of being "special" and being treated as someone whose special they create an undercurrent to the psychology of gang life. And this is brought out, not just in the films about gang life, but in the war films and all the films where the talentless people in Hollywood always have to have a GUN as the star of the movie and to create tension.
    You can get tension in a film without a gun

    Most importantly, If America weren't at war in so many places, the promotion of violence, the idea that killing makes you a man....would dwindle.

    The person who killed this person, now imagines themselves as more of a man in a very perverse manner. They are now a "warrior". Just like in the movies.

    Fantasy becomes reality and then everybody gets killed.

    That's my idea for a movie: "Everybody gets Killed"
    It starts our with a fender bender and escalates until all human life is extinguished.

    Seems to be coming true.

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  3. Heard about 12 shots fired in the vicinity of Clifton and Sunnyside this morning shortly after 5 am. Woke me up. Don't know who or what it was about. Called 911 but didn't hear any police come by. When are the authorities going to do something about this?

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  4. Bad things happen around bad buildings that house bad people. Until there is progress on lowering the crushing sec8, shelter and sro burden, the problems will persist. There is no other solution.

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  5. So Stu Piddy, you blame Guns, War, Drugs, Hollywood, and the Police but fail to put any blame on THE PARENTS who are sending these thugs out in to society? Generation after generation of fatherless boys creating havoc on our streets?

    Chicago has the STRICTEST gun laws in the land and yet Mr. Clark still lays dead. You know what? The next generation of pissed off, uneducated, fatherless youths are ready to step in to his place.

    You know what the shitty part of all of it is? We subsidize this lifestyle. We pay the rent, food, & healthcare and the only consequences for their behavior unfortunately at times comes in the form of a bullet.

    Sad.

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  6. I heard the shots fired at approximately ten after 2 a.m. from my home, which is located near Marine and Argyle. I then heard sirens--and many of them. This must be related story, as I've not heard of any other incidents close to where I live. How sad--and so close to the holidays!

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  7. OK, I love our new alderman, but I am beginning to lose some hope with this. It seems as if the violence has worsened. And the violence usually "cools off" in the winter months. Does not seem to be so this year.

    Is it too early in the James' term to expect some changes in the ward? Let's face it, the cops and the alderman know where these bangers live. Open inspections of their dump properties. Close the dumps because of violations. There has to be ways of handling the problem.

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  8. Two detectives came by and asked questions. They were sharp, polite and courteous.

    They said it appeared he had been shot from a distance

    They examined the body...the bullet went from the back of the head and lodged in the front. Only one bullet hit him of the 8 that were fired.

    He apparently live in the tall white building on 4800 Winthrop officially or unoffically.

    The detectives said they heard a lot of gunfire later in the evening at another location.

    You know, if your not aware of this happening you have a very different view of what's going on.

    But the shots seem to be getting closer and closer and more frequent and I have to ask if it's only a question of time before the gang bangers start shooting non-gang bangers.

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  9. God, Alek, shut up! Just shut up. Low income housing does not equal bad. Stop it with your poverty bashing. A person is dead, left to lay in the street for hours, dead. It's really terrible.

    And I think Stu Piddy is on the right track about eliminating guns and legalizing drugs. There are a lot of complex issues around organized crime and the factors that relate to a kid being dead in the street at 3 am. And it is certainly not low income housing on it's face, alone.

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  10. You don't know anything about his parents

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  11. but fail to put any blame on THE PARENTS

    .. or the shooters, themselves.

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  12. Man this is fucked up and as FOR the police and the paramedic its just sad that his body had to be out there like that man Ima miss lil eddie you was like family to me cnt explain the pain i feel i still cnt belive it its so unreal the williams im crying out we all love you and i know you looking down on us.....gone but never forgotten....

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  13. You know what Chip Douglass, even Elvis got it:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ox1Tore9nw

    We may have strict gun laws, but they are obviously not strict enough. And clearly not being enforced.

    Enough with the poverty bashing, okay. The gun and drug problem is not about being poor. Why not look at all the wealthy white drug users out there, aren't they part of the problem, on some level?

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  14. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

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  15. Sorry to those who lost a friend and son. Sorry to the father who had the heartache. May all have peace with this.

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  16. 10 shots fired near or in the gangway by the gate at 4428 N Clifton at 4:06 AM. No apparent damage but casings found. Police called but non spotted for about 15 minutes.
    This particular building is on the problem building lists for accomadating bangers and drug dealers on the taxpayer's dime.
    When is being on the list going to mean something ?

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  17. Enough with the poverty bashing, okay. The gun and drug problem is not about being poor. Why not look at all the wealthy white drug users out there, aren't they part of the problem, on some level?

    Indeed - there is guilt up and down the drug and gun supply chain, but ..., where are the shootings occurring, and who are the ones pulling the triggers?

    And .. more importantly, who are the ones being shot?

    Drug violence isn't a condition of poverty, but maybe a result of.

    Unfortunately, as always needs to be mentioned, it's not the majority of those in poverty who turn out to be complete douchebags.

    Still, that small portion of trouble makers need to be dealt with, and seriously .. and soon.

    The longer we kill time trying to come up with a politically correct solution and pussyfooting around, the more innocent people will die.

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  18. Let's see if we can get any ideas from the wonderful letter Alderman Shiller put out over two years ago after she was chased from a community meeting by some thugs.*

    *Thugs=Law Abiding Constituents.


    Please forgive any sarcasm I may have employed in my comments in that post.

    My commentary was insipidly insightful. Or perhaps not. I have since been saved and am looking forward to voting for either that paragon of virtue Newt Gingrich or the almost human Mitt Romney. Of course I have problems with both. Never trust a perpetual adolescent with his tumescent thoughts, like Newtser, or someone who changes his positions more than a twenty dollar hooker, like Mittster.
    OH where is Sarah Palin? The GOP clown car needs a driver.

    Now I'm going to walk over to the CVS on Broadway for some pain killers. Oh and the liquor store. Gotta stop dere'.

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  19. Stef,

    These guys aren't selling their drugs to the "wealthy white users" in this neighborhood. And I'm pretty sure that our local proprietors are not even selling the types of drugs that "wealthy white users" are buying.

    And whether you like it or not, Chip makes valid points. He does, however, paint with a brush that is rather too broad. You are correct that not all poor people are the source of our problems here in Uptown. However, it is an unassailable truth that the high density of subsidized housing greatly fuels our problems here in uptown. It is in the subsidized housing projects, and not market-rate housing, where you will find the teenage mother who declines to raise her fatherless son (a.k.a., her welfare check). That teenage mother, if not one already now, will become a regular customer of our very own proprietors. And that fatherless son will grow up to join the ranks of the gangbangers that get shot in the back of the head at 2 a.m.

    It's not low-income housing alone, correct. It's a lack of parenting. It's a lack of community in low-income housing. There's no proverbial village stepping in to teach the parentless children values and manners in the vacuum left by the irresponsible teenage parents. There's only reinforcement of the status quo.

    The reason we have, for example, sunflower seeds all over our CTA trains is the very same reason we have our children growing up to be murderers and the murdered. It's a lack of parenting. Take another listen to "In the Ghetto." I think you missed the subtext.

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  20. Well, I'm glad we've so brilliantly diagnosed the cause of this tragedy. If it weren't for citizens like us, nobody would understand what's really going on in this city!

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  21. God bless the young man and his family who lost a child or a brother or uncle. As Americans we need to step up and stop pointing the finger at each other we need to begin by standing together as one. Regardless of color. Our issues in society today is gang loitering, racism, poverty, and many other issues. If we as parents would begin speaking up at meetings or even attending the meetings that we have every week in the building on Wilson and broadway these issues would begin to cease. One of the organizations that the meeting I'm talking about is cease fire this organization needs more of the community to come together and begin speaking out at the meetings . I am a woman who believes in GOD and realizes that if we do not step toward him there is only one other direction to turn towards and we do not need to see any more of this going on in society today. Can't we put are pride to the side and sit down like adults and speak to all these young men. I know I have and believe it or not they do listen but you must continue to talk to them otherwise they will lose interest. Just sit back and think about everything I said then comment. Thank you and GOD bless everyone especially the family who lost their loved one.

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  22. Jasmine, im all for ceasefire due to the fact that I know for a FACT that majority of the men and women( if there are any women left in that organization) are reformed gang members and have Made a difference in many young people's lives. This is a CHOICE they made to turn their life around, and in turn they aid and assist others to CHOOSE to do so as well. What I have a problem with is that SOME ceasefire employees are CURRANT gang bangers who do nothing else but impersonate a changed man. In the mean while they scope out who's who and what's what and soon after that someone else gets shot or killed.and yes I'm talking about right here in uptown. I seen it. Tio Hardaman made a mistake with this one.. I tried to get in contact with him but he's hard to catch up with. THIS is a problem in its self. So as long as these imposters walk up and down uptown streets saying ONE thing but DOING another it adds fuel to the fire. And yes I believe in God also but I'm NOT blinded by facts.

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  23. Seems like we're going through one of those phases where we hear of people speaking ABOUT CeaseFire, but not a whole lot coming FROM CeaseFire, themselves.

    I've defended these folks in the past as (again) it's difficult to prove a negative .. however, other than a couple of poorly announced marches, can someone, honestly, tell me what these folks are doing?

    ... and with tax payer money, I might add.

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  24. why blue and black balloons at the little memorial tonight?!

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  25. My deepest condolences to the family and friends of Eddie Clark.

    This song is for me, everybody.

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  26. Blue and black are the colors of the Gangster Disciples street gang.

    Coincidence?

    I post.

    YOU decide.

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  27. I'll never be able to convince any of the enablers on this sight, but I feel the need to say this anyhow: let's all be honest with each other. This kid got shot because he was probably mixed up in some things he shouldn't have been mixed up in. End of story.

    Until people realize that their needs to be accountability for their actions, things will never change. And let's be honest again: these kind of people will never be held accountable for their own actions.

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  28. "Until people realize that there needs to be accountability for their actions, things will never change. And let's be honest again: these kind of people will never be held accountable for their own actions."

    Are you talking about gangbangers or Congress?

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  29. Swisshammer nailed it, a banger was killed by a banger.

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  30. so then isn't the memorial gang loitering?

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  31. IF .. IF! .. gang colors are being displayed in "honor" of the victim, they need to be taken down.

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  32. ...Why not look at all the wealthy white drug users out there, aren't they part of the problem, on some level?

    Whole lot of drive-bys in Edison Park, or Jefferson Park. huh. The problem is we reward undereducted under parented irresponsible people for having more and more babies that they don't know/won't raise properly. And then when 'lil whoever' becomes a "gangsta" he is able to hop and skip through the penal system only to land back on the streets. Before I'm flamed, yes I know that this is not true for all, but it is more true in the poor black neighborhoods than non at least within Chicago. Political correctness has blinded too many eyes here.

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  33. I always wonder why shootings in Uptown don't seem to make the paper. The shooting of a bystander was mentioned the other day, but I didn't see anything about this. Am I missing something?

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  34. Jasmine,

    When and where? I'd love to have a chat with some of our local gangs. Can't guarantee that I'll talk to them about religion or how sorry I am that their life is just so difficult but I'd love to show up.

    Thanks for posting.


    @Yo-

    "however, other than a couple of poorly announced marches, can someone, honestly, tell me what these folks are doing?"

    I've never been to a ceasefire meeting obviously neither have you. Jasmine is going to tell us when/where. You in?

    How about anyone else? Going to CAPS and positive loitering while it may give you that feel good feeling that your "getting involved" sure isn't curtailing violence is it? I used to not miss a single CAPS meeting and joined neighbors all the time for PL'ing guess what? Not a damn thing has changed. You know what that tells me, if I was an inventor I'd probably find a new approach, obviously this one isn't working.

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  35. "These guys aren't selling their drugs to the "wealthy white users" in this neighborhood. And I'm pretty sure that our local proprietors are not even selling the types of drugs that "wealthy white users" are buying. "

    Wealthily white users all over the city. We don't know what kinds of drugs they are selling, to whom, or where, we don't know what's really happening out there. I do think that this level of violence would not be occurring over the nickel and dime local crack head. As long as there is a demand, there is going to be a supplier, and if there is money to made, the legality doesn't much matter. It's a lot like Al Capone, and prohibition. Its an underground economy. And crime and gun violence will occur as long as there is a war on drugs. We blame the suppliers, the gangs, but we don't look at the users, or the demand. It's just something to consider. We don't know about the family life of the kids, nor are we considering the cyclical nature of poverty and incarceration, or the money they may be making from doing what they are doing. It could be a hell of a lot, at least enough to make it worth the risk?

    This, from the wire, I think says a lot as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1HUlTKvDUI

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  36. Out on the street at 2 am....mmmmm. Just look at Ak/Lwprincess posts if you are wondering if the deceased has a history of criminal activity and gang connections. No one wants to see someone die, but like it was previously stated, a banger shot a banger. At least no innocent people got hurt.

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  37. Occupy. You want change? Start at the top.

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  38. Along with the gang balloons, the little gang "tribute" includes graffiti on the Chase bank building. Really great friends -- they honestly have no sense of decency.

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  39. Re: Cease Fire – gang leaders

    After back and forth gang shootings this past summer across competing gang territories between Montrose and Wilson, by the gang West of Broadway and the competing gang East of Broadway, Cease Fire came to our Positive Loitering night at Wilson and Hazel. Cease Fire said yes there was a turf battle going on as evidenced by the back and forth retaliation shootings. Cease Fire said they’d met separately with the gang leaders from each side to try to get them to agree to come together and broker a truce. But, CF said they both refused. And after all the gang leaders aren’t typically the ones out on the street corners being shot. It’s the young men they recruit and sent out on the street. It’s really sick that these usually older, hardened, more criminally sophisticated so called leaders, target and recruit young kids, some at a very early age, then send them out on the streets as teenagers and young men to sell the drugs, and who profits? Not their young recruits, the foot soldiers they send out to do their dirty work. They do all the hard work, for the gang ‘daddy’ leaders, put their lives on the line and the profits, the big money, if there is any, goes to the leaders. They may get small chunks of money here and there but in the long run, considering the risks, and the danger, if they don’t get killed or a long prison term, the total amount of money they’ll make over their so called career is really not very much. On the other hand, if instead they chose to at least finish High School and get some sort of job training, construction, trade, CTA … by their mid- 20’s or so they could easily be making enough to have a really decent life, a nice car, a home.

    Will these young gang members realize that they’re just being used?

    That being said, at this point the police and the Alderman know who the gang leaders are and where they live and need to get them out of Uptown. And if they come back, kick them out again and then again. Keep harassing them. Make it harder for them to organize because they no longer are allowed to live in the middle of their gang territory, AKA command post.

    Don’t make it easy for them to do business here!

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  40. R.I.P i miss u so much i kno we was suppost to do sumthing this summer togather and now i wish we cudve did it earlier honestly it dont feel like you gon bcuz u always gon but i kno u r and it hurts me...... save sum room for me and heaven n tell ur mom, my dad my uncles and every body else i said hi

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  41. The fact of the matter that they are all senseless crime of violence that leave families mourning and children without fathers, the police in uptown have never been there to protect and serve, you can find them parked at the lakefront, or in a resturant and when a murder occurs they just crowd around and joke and talk while people lay on the ground dead. so we should not as a community rely on the police, we need to get out in our communities and try to reach these young brothers, go to the aledermen and try to secure funding for programs for the under educated and the felons, try to provide more oppurtunities for the youth instead of using these blatant sterotypes to label them. Most of those guys out there due to criminal history and rampant drug use are a lost cause and we should focus on the youth to try to change the culture, with the influx of new people in the neighborhood coming from the torn down projects thru out the city i expected crime to rise.

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  42. try to secure funding for programs for the under educated

    I hear ya, and I don't mean to come across as sarcastic, but the first thing that popped to mind when I read this is that we already have those programs, and they're funded, they're called schools

    try to provide more oppurtunities for the youth instead of using these blatant sterotypes to label them.

    .. if only they'd stop acting so stereotypical.

    No. Really.


    Unfortunately, Ray - I think you hit the nail on the head - there is a lost generation of people out there who simply cannot be saved.

    Try as we might, I simply cannot see them changing their ways.


    As to the influx of displaced, we need to hang a sign up stating that Uptown is full, and that the rest of the city need to start picking up some of the slack.

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  43. Will these young gang members realize that they’re just being used?

    J-Dog ... maybe the young gang members should unionize!

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  44. WOW, I READ ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND IT WAS TRULLY A WASTE OF MY TIME AND YOURS FOR WRITING NOTHING, IF ANYONE KNEW EDDIE YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN HE WAS A FATHERLESS BOY, WERE ARE THE REAL MEN IN UPTOWN THAT COULD HAVE BEEN A MODEL FOR HIM AND THE YOUNG MEN COMING UP? I FAULT US ALL FOR NOT SAVING HIM BEFORE IT CAME TO THIS, NOT ONLY WAS HE A FATHERLESS BOY HIS MOTHER DIED SOMETIME AGO, SO WHERE WERE WE TO HELP HIM HAVE A BETTER LIFE, WE ALLOWED HIM TO BE RAISED BY THE STREETS OF UPTOWN, SO NOW WHAT! ARE WE GOING TO CONTINUE TO WATCH THIS REPEAT ITSELF? EDDIE NO LONGER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE STRUGGLES OF LIFE UPTOWN AND I PRAY FOR HIS FAMILY THAT GOD BE WITH THEM AND I PRAY FOR YOU AND I THAT WE NOT BECOME THE NEXT VICTIM OF GANG VIOLENCE, WE ALL KNOW THAT GOD IS OUR CREATOR AND HE IS NOT PLEASE WHEN WE DO NOT VALUE LIFE AS HE DOES, SO WHOEVER MURDERED THIS YOUNG MAN MAY FOOL US AND THE POLICE, BUT GOD HAS SAID "VENGEANCE ARE MINE"

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  45. Excuse me Chip but you dont know his story...its now always because of the parents, its society in a whole and u are part of it...try to make a difference instead of anonymous comments that go nowhere...Chip...fyi, his mom died of Cancer years ago. ya have to hear the testimony before judging...

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