EAST GARFIELD PARK — Demarco Webster Sr. was literally in the process of making a "better life" for his his son when an Austin shootout early Saturday claimed the life of the 14-year-old boy.
The two were packing up their Austin apartment to move out at 1 a.m. Saturday when a gun battle erupted on their street, Webster Sr. said. His son, Demarco Webster Jr., was strapping a mattress to the hood of their van when the gunfire erupted, he said.
"I ducked by my van door," Webster Sr. said at a Tuesday press conference outside the Harrison Police District, 3151 W. Harrison St. "I think, 'My son!' I remember him being on top of the van. I looked up there, I didn't see him. I looked under the van, I didn't see him.
Webster Sr. said the gunfire continued as he looked for his son.
"I look at the entrance where we was moving from," he said. "I went in the hallway. I seen my son on the floor, saying 'I gotta get up. I gotta get up.'"
Demarco Webster Sr. is comforted by family as he recounts the killing of his 14-year-old son. [DNAinfo/Joe Ward]
Demarco's family wailed as his father recounted the horrific shootout that claimed his son. His 10 siblings — nine are younger than the 14-year-old Demarco — cried and held on to family members.
Activist Andrew Holmes asked reporters to be sensitive to the family's grieving, and called on the community to turn in the killers.
"To the shooter ... it's unacceptable," Holmes said. "There will be an arrest in this case. If you're man enough to discharge [a gun] you're man enough to turn yourself in."
Despite living amid a "war," Demarco's family never thought their shy and funny boy would meet such an end, they said. And despite seeing violence and suffering everyday, his family said they never fathomed encountering such tragedy.
"You have no idea what you've done to me," Webster Sr. said of the shooters who took his son's life. "I'm ashamed for myself to live. I'll never be the same again."
Demarco was one of 17 people killed in shootings this weekend, the most deadly weekend in a year that has seen escalating gun violence.
The family's grief was not confined to the lost of Demarco, however.
Demarco Webster's father talks about the moment he knew his 14-year-old son was shot. Family pleading for help. pic.twitter.com/0R14Pht66L
— Joe Ward (@JayDubWard) November 1, 2016
Living directly next door to Demarco's family is the Bryant family, who lost twin 17-year-olds Edwin and Edward in an Old Town shooting that may have been caught on camera. (The family declined comment Tuesday.)
Demarco's old sister, D'Nya Webster, was also friends with Raqkown Ricks, a 19-year-old who lived in Homan Square and was killed on the Near West Side this weekend.
"I grew up with them," she said of the three killed, plus her brother. "[I'm] hurt. I don't know how to feel."
She said her brother "was my best friend. We did everything together. You're not safe anywhere. At first, I didn't want to move but if everyone wants to go, I'll move away."
Though it may seem extraordinary that a 16-year-old girl could be close to four people killed in one weekend, a Webster family friend said that is a reality for many kids on the West Side. Still, they said they worry for D'Nya.
"They're getting killed every day, not every week," said Tiffany Thompson, whose known Demarco's mom for nine years. "These kids, they're gonna know somebody [killed]. Practically all of them do."
Akesha Hester, Demarco's mother, said her good friend and neighbor lost her son to gun violence last year.
"I've had a lot of friends I had to comfort over the years," she said. "I never thought it'd be me in these shoes."
Demarco Webster Jr. [Facebook]
Demarco was described as a shy but curious boy who loved basketball and researching things on the internet, family said.
"He was not about to let you go with the wrong information," Hester said with a brief smile.
Demarco was poised to do great things, his family said.
The 8th grade honor student at Jensen Scholastic Academy was slated to attend Lane Tech College Prep. Family members said that Demarco was big fan of basketball star LeBron James. They also said that Demarco loved to dance, play video games, and worked a summer job through Mayor Rahm Emanuel's One Summer Chicago program.
His dad wanted to make sure he was in a position to thrive. That's why he wanted to move, Webster Sr. said. (He did not say where they were planning to move. Demarco lived with his father.)
Though violence has been a daily struggle for years on the West Side, Webster Sr. said the last two years have been like a "war." Demarco's mother said her son was "caught in the middle of a war."
"This is a city that swallows kids," Webster Sr. said. "My son wasn't a street kid. It was the environment that took him under."
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