By Lauren Victory, Marissa Sulek, Sara Machi
Click here for updates on this story
CHICAGO (WBBM) — A new reward is being offered for information to help find the shooter who killed a 14-year-old boy Friday night in the Loop, in the first of two shootings downtown, which left one teen dead and eight others wounded.
The gunfire erupted after thousands of people had gathered to celebrate the Christmas tree lighting in Millennium Park.
Cook County Crime Stoppers immediately offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of those responsible for the two shootings.
On Monday, the Youth Peace and Justice Foundation – a Texas-based nonprofit – offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the death of 14-year-old Armani Floyd, who was killed in the second of those two shootings.
The first shooting happened around 9:50 p.m. Friday, when seven teens were shot outside the Chicago Theatre, in the 100 block of North State Street. All seven victims were taken to hospitals in good or fair condition.
Around 10:40 p.m., two more teens were shot near Dearborn and Adams streets, a few blocks away. Armani Floyd, 14, was shot multiple times and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An 18-year-old man was also shot in the leg and was taken to Northwestern in serious condition.
Amari was part of Project sWISH Chicago, a nonprofit basketball program for teens. Project sWISH founder and basketball coach McKinley Nelson said he’s not sure what led to Amari’s death, but he was shocked to hear the news.
Nelson described Amari as “super funny, super competitive, great kid, right?”
“I played basketball some years ago. I mean, he always, like, wants to challenge me, right? Like, old man or unc, like, ‘you don’t got it anymore,’ like, that kind of stuff, right?” Nelson said. I told him if he beat me in a one-on-one, I would get him a pair of shoes for Christmas. He did not beat me, but I still promised him a pair of shoes for Christmas.
Project sWISH won’t play a game the next time they meet. Instead, therapists will be available to talk to Armani’s friends about his death.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said Chicago police were aware of social media posts promoting a so-called “teen takeover” downtown on Friday night, and that Chicago Public Schools had sent letters home to parents. Police also put an extra 700 officers on patrol, using some of the same precautions that prevented teen takeovers in the summer.
“What we put in place did not do enough for what we were concerned about from actually manifesting,” Mayor Johnson said. “Our young people have to understand that they should not attend these unauthorized events that are advertised on social media. They are extremely dangerous due to the number of individuals that may be carrying weapons, especially semiautomatic weapons.”
“So, the precautions themselves and the measures that we took, we learned a lesson that they don’t work 100% of the time,” said Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd).
Hopkins said he’s talking to other councilmembers about re-visiting the idea of a snap curfew since they knew about the crowds of teens days before they met up.
“This is a tool that would have been used by the police at that time. They actually did start enforcing the curfew when the law allowed them to Friday night, which was 10 p.m., but by then it was too late. The shootings had already occurred,” he said.
Hopkins said there were other major red flags earlier in the night on Friday. He said when police initially tried to break up some crowds of kids, some of the teens used pepper spray on police, one even tried to pull a stun gun on officers.
Johnson said 18 arrests were made Friday night, and five guns were recovered in the aftermath of the shooting. The mayor called the shootings a setback for the city. Hopkins said another 18 teens faced curfew detentions after the 10 p.m. curfew went into effect.
As of Monday morning, no one was in custody for either shooting.
Vigil held for Armani Floyd in South Shore Dozens, including the father, a violence prevention advocate, and siblings of Floyd, were in the South Shore neighborhood on Monday evening to grieve the tragic loss.
The vigil was held near Gary Comer Middle School. Each person in attendance had a balloon with a message on it, which they released in honor of the 14-year-old they describe as an athlete, comedian, and a go-getter.
“Armani always had the biggest smile on his face. A smile never left Armani’s face,” Breanna Thomas said.
“He was going to have a very bright future. He was going places in basketball. He stayed fresh. Everyone loved Armani.” Nyah DeBerry said.
“He didn’t deserve that, he really didn’t,” Ayesha Harkness said.
City officials said social media warned them of a teen trend or a large gathering, and they did nothing.
Ald. William Hall (6th Ward) is now proposing a city ordinance that requires social media companies to take down posts advertising the teen gatherings if the city tells them to.
“If we are asking communities to partner with us. If we are asking parents to partner with us how is it that social media companies are exempt from this?” he said.
“My son was downtown that night as well, and so, I was just shocked because this was someone who he was just recently with.” Precious Edmondson said.
Edmondson and Pam Peterson are parents who knew Floyd well. After the weekend, they want to see more resources in the community for teens to keep them from downtown.
“I usually don’t let my son do stuff like that, but you know, when you are a teen mom, you have to let go,” Edmondson said. “That night I did, and I don’t regret it because that was his last night with Armani.”
In the ordinance Hall is proposing, he said social media platforms must take down posts about teen gatherings in six hours. If they don’t, they must explain wh,y or they will be fined $50,000.
This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate partner and does not contain original CNN reporting.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
