A surveillance tape of the Church’s Chicken shooter chasing an unknown intended victim into the dining area of a popular fast food restaurant exists. The Chicago police have seen it, but the public hasn’t. Dantril Brown, 17, and Jawan Ross, 16, are both dead from random gunshots from this yet unidentified maniac. The question is: did any of the patrons (of Church’s Tuesday evening) get a good look at the shooter? And who is the man being chased into the busy chicken stand?
We know also the two were engaged in an argument before things went south in a flash. Does surveillance footage capture any part of the argument outside of the Church’s, which is located in the Englewood district of Chicago? Was the altercation gang related? Suspicion is running high that it was. And furthermore, is there live footage of the actual shooting itself, inside the Church’s Chicken?
Why did this crazed man fire shots at innocent bystanders, such as Dantril Brown, who was trapped at a locked side exit? The gunman had to know what he was doing. Did he know any of these people who he was madly shooting? From what friends and family have said, it’s unlikely he did know any of these innocent diners. So why did he do it?
A Chicago Sun Times article (Church’s shooting: Killed teens in ‘wrong place at wrong time’, by Kim Janssen) emphasizes the nature of this tragedy, where an unfortunate decision by one of the young men who was killed (Jawan Ross), makes a big difference in his luckless fate. Jawan’s sisters decided on White Castle for their dinner choice, while Jawan favored Church’s, which was running a 99 cent special.
Is the White Castle any safer than the Church’s? No way to predict this kind of random violence. And yet, if Jawan had gone with his sisters to White Castle, he’d still be alive. That’s what’s so troubling about attempts at sizing up what could have been and what ultimately was. And if Englewood has a major gang problem, here lies the blame! This tends to underscore the significance of scrutinizing the surveillance tape in search of answers.
As is very often the case, the two young men who were killed were well-liked in the community and showed promise for the future. Furthermore, five other people were wounded Tuesday night at Church’s Chicago. To clarify, the gun firing started at 6:50 PM in the dining vicinity. The Church’s Chicken is located at the cross streets of 66th and Halsted. Many witnesses outside of Church’s heard the gunfire, but weren’t really phased so much.
Diamond Brown, a girlfriend of one of the victims (not sure which victim?), said to WLS-TV/DT (an affiliate of ABC), that phones were ringing like crazy right after the shots stopped. People must have been calling 911, or friends and family on their cell phones. Did anyone see the assailant flee the scene, or see which direction he was heading in? Another 17-year-old was shot in the thigh and grazed in the arm; he actually stumbled over one of the victims (as hard as it is to say) who was already shot.
Through the years, we see lots of cases such as this in the news. For the most part, we don’t give it a second thought, since this type of gratuitous violence is so widespread, a 24/7 occurrence. But, in my mind, this one is a little different. One thing, that just won’t go away, is the popular logo of Church’s Chicken, which unfortunately, has assumed an unsavory association, as a result of this alarming arbitrary outburst of urban violence. I’ll never forget the San Ysidro McDonalds massacre dating from July 18, 1984. This is the first thought that came to mind, when I heard the news of Church’s.
