Tariq M. Harris, 16, and Dijae T. Banks, 17, have been charged with first-degree murder and ordered to be held without bail in Cook County Jail. They have been accused of murdering Jovan Wilson, 15, the grandson of longtime U.S. Representative Danny Davis, during an argument over clothes and gym shoes.
They fatally shot Wilson on Friday, Nov. 18, 2016. He was shot in the neck after the teens forced their way into this South Princeton Avenue home located on the South Side of Chicago.
He was home with his uncle, a family friend, 16-year-old sister and his two brothers, who are 14 and 8, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Bryan Grissman.
Cook County Judge James Brown scolded the boys for their life-altering actions. “The murdering of a young boy over articles of clothing [and] gym shoes demonstrates a total callous disregard over the precious nature of human life. The citizens of this city need to be protected from these defendants.”
Banks and the 14-year-old had been trading clothes for weeks prior to the shooting. Banks said she wanted to retrieve some shoes she had lent to the 14-year-old in exchange for a pair of pants, according to Grissman.
The 14-year-old brother did not want to return the shoes without first retrieving the pants he had lent to Banks, Grissman said. When the 14-year-old opened the door a crack to talk to Banks, Harris and Banks forced open the door and entered the home. Banks pulled out a handgun and began threatening Jovan’s sister with it.
Grissman adds, Banks then handed the gun to Harris and began to fight with Jovan’s sister. As this altercation was going on, Harris repeatedly slid the safety mechanism on the gun back and forth. Jovan intervened to break up the fight between Banks and his sister. Banks then punched Jovan in the face with a closed fist, and Jovan reciprocated by punching Banks. Banks became angry that Harris “was allowing the siblings to treat her this way.”
Harris took a step back, raised the gun and fired it once striking Jovan in the neck. As Jovan fell to the ground, Harris and Banks fled the home through the back door.
Davis, a Democratic member of the House for 20 years, told The Associated Press Saturday that his grandson was a victim of a world where gun violence has become commonplace.
Jovan is the son of Davis’ son, Stacey Wilson.
“Unfortunately, here he was in the house, minding his own business, and some intruders would come and snuff his life away,’ the congressman said in a statement to the press.
He also stated that he will continue his work to get “guns off the street” and out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have firearms.
“This is a problem we are confronted with every day,” he added. “I have dealt with it for many years, I have spoken at many funerals for young people.”
