In September 2023, Abnerd Joseph, a former metro Atlanta assistant principal, was fatally shot in Chicago. On Martin Luther King Day, his family marched the streets of Atlanta, with shirts with his face on them and a large banner that read “Justice for Abnerd Joseph,” to fight for justice.
Chicago police said that Joseph was shot multiple times in the chest, abdomen, flank, armpit and ring finger at his downtown high rise after a dispute with another tenant. Joseph later died from his injuries. The tenant wasn’t charged and had a concealed carry license.
As Joseph’s family marched the streets, they shouted “Justice for Abnerd Joseph” and that they wanted justice “now.”
“He was an educator, he was an assistant principal, and he was murdered by a resident in his own condo,” Joseph’s sister said to rolling out. “We’re just trying to get justice for him. It’s been four months since his passing. There’s been no convictions or anything. We’re just trying to spread awareness for him.”
Joseph worked as an educator in Atlanta for almost a decade and moved to Chicago over a year ago to teach at a charter school. His main areas of focus were school climate, student discipline, schoolwide transitions and procedures and student safety.
