WEST GARFIELD PARK — Akeem Morris’s mother knows her son sold drugs, but she said he didn’t deserve to be shot and killed on a West Garfield Park sidewalk.
“Akeem wasn’t the best child in the world. He did sell drugs, but he wasn’t a gun-totin’ gangbanger,” said his mother Cassandra Melton. “He sold drugs to put two dollars in his pocket. He didn’t go around jeopardizing people’s lives.”
Morris, 22, was shot in the face May 8 in the 4000 block of West West End Avenue, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The oldest of five children, Morris had multiple drug-related convictions, his mother said. Court records show Morris was convicted twice of heroin-related charges.
Despite his involvement in the drug trade, Morris was a regular young man who loved sports, his mother said.
He especially loved football and played at George W. Collins High School, from which he graduated in 2008, Melton said.
Morris lived with his grandmother until he was 17, when he returned to his mother’s home.
“We had a beautiful relationship despite him being taken away from me, he put that behind him,” Melton said.
“My son didn’t have anything in his pockets. Akeem didn’t even have a cell phone. He didn’t even have money, but they took his life.”