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After Boy, 15, Shot Dead, Principal Calls for Increased Security

By Alex Parker | December 13, 2014 3:10pm | Updated on December 14, 2014 1:43pm
 Police said the teen was shot in the 0-100 block of West 63rd Street.
Boy, 15, Killed in Robbery Attempt: Police
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CHICAGO — The 15-year-old boy shot dead Saturday during a robbery attempt in Englewood was accompanying his twin brother to basketball practice, and was three days away from turning 16, officials at his school said.

His death led the principal of his school to call for the implementation of martial law in violence-plagued parts of the city.

Demario Bailey was walking in the first block of West 63rd Street about 12:40 p.m. when he was approached by four males, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a Chicago Police Department spokesman. One of them pulled a gun and shot Demario in the chest, he said.

The group fled, and the victim was pronounced dead on the scene, Sweeney said. Police had interviewed "persons of interest," but they were released without charges by Sunday morning.

Demario, of the 7500 block of South Wabash Avenue, was pronounced dead on the scene at 12:47 p.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Demario was a student at Johnson College Prep, and was on his way to basketball practice, said a woman who identified herself as a junior varisty coach; she did not give her name.

She described him as "a very good kid. Very polite, everything you could ask of a kid."

Demario was in 10th grade, said Garland Thomas-McDavid, principal at Johnson College Prep. His brother, Demacio, is on the Johnson varsity basketball team, she said.

"Demario was his biggest fan, accompanying his brother to practices and games regularly," she said. "In addition to mourning this loss, [Demacio] will also be forced to live with the horrible memory of watching his brother be murdered in front of him."

Thomas-McDavis spoke out forcefully against the type of gun violence that killed Demario, even advocating for martial law. She said she spoke both as a principal and mother.

"Something needs to be done to keep our children safe on the streets of Chicago. I know I speak for every educator who continuously deals with this type of tragedy in saying we are sick and tired of being sick and tired," she said. "The apologies are not enough, and after all the fanfare is over, someone still has to put their baby in the ground. We need increased levels and types of security so that people can live without the constant threat of being killed.

"I believe I speak for every mother who lives on the South Side of this city in saying we don’t mind if it takes [martial law] to get this in order. Demario did not deserve to die three days from his 16th birthday," she said.

The idea of using the National Guard to quell the city's gun violence has been brought up by politicians in the past, including governors Pat Quinn and Rod Blagojevich.

She said the school is working to help the family with funeral expenses.

Area Central detectives are investigating.

Contributing: Devlin Brown

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