Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Man Killed in Front of Childhood Home was 'Reconstructing' His Life: Family

By Darryl Holliday | February 26, 2013 1:33pm

AUSTIN — Forty-one years and counting.

When asked how long members of Donald "DP" Price's family has lived in their home on the 4800 block of West Ferdinand Street, cousins, aunts and uncles say it's been nearly half a century.

Many good memories. "This is where it all started," said one of Price's cousins.

But, now, a horrendous memory, as well: Price was shot to death outside of the home on Saturday evening.

On Monday night, nearly a dozen of his relatives were on hand at the family home, on and around the exact spot where the 32-year-old man was gunned down.

A memorial in his honor  —  a stuffed rabbit, balloons, bottles and one of the ventilators used by medics in the attempt to revive him  — was constructed next to where Price's head had rested.

A cousin of Price, Easha Jones, said a dark man with dreadlocks had appeared from behind a nearby tree and shot Price in the head.

When Price fell, the man shot him at least five more times, she said.

"[His death] was a total shock — that someone would come up in front of your own home and do something like that ... I mean, we grew up in this house," Jones said.

While police have listed Price's death as gang-related, Jones denies it — she said he wasn't type to be out on the streets.

Price had spent some time in jail but had begun "reconstructing his life," she said. He had recently enrolled at Malcolm X College in hopes of becoming a construction worker.

"He wasn't that kid he was 10 years ago," she said. "He'd grown — he made a 360-degree change."

But, like his brother, Melvin Jones, who was shot to to death at age 26 in Humboldt Park, Price was yet another victim of Chicago's gun violence.

"They were the best of friends," Easha Jones said. "He just couldn't live without his brother."

A vigil for Price was held Sunday night in which "the whole block was filled up" with family and friends outside of the the home where most of his family had also grown up, according to Jones.

Six other people were shot within the same weekend.

With two kids of her own, Jones recently moved to Villa Park to keep them out of the line of fire.

"I can't have them out on these streets," she said.