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Family Of Slain Woman Was 'Ambushed' At Candlelight Vigil, Activist Says

By  Kelly Bauer and Andrea V. Watson | January 26, 2017 7:41am | Updated on January 27, 2017 8:50am

 A man cleans up glass on 75th Street a day after a shooting on the block that wounded seven people.
A man cleans up glass on 75th Street a day after a shooting on the block that wounded seven people.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Watson

CHICAGO — The family of Jamayah Fields, slain earlier this week in Austin, was ambushed during a candlelight vigil for the woman Wednesday night, an activist said.

At 8:16 p.m., seven people — including four women, a 12-year-old boy and two teens — were shot inside a business in the 500 block of East 75th Street, police said. Officials originally said six people had been shot.

Fields' mother was one of the victims, anti-violence activist Jedidiah Brown said.

The shooting happened as Fields' family and friends gathered at a vigil in her memory, Brown said. They were around a restaurant, some getting food, when someone posted about the event on social media and "a rival faction of individuals" came to the spot "and shot it up," Brown said.

"I know for sure that they were targeted," Brown said. Later, he added, "It was like an ambush. It was a planned ambush of the family."

Ald. Roderick Sawyer, who called the incident "tragic," said the shooters found the family because a Facebook Live video recorded at fast food spot Wingz Around The World showed their location. 

"Whoever didn't like them, noticed that and came over, shot up the place," he said. "Violence happens where it happens. It can happen anywhere. No community is immune to it."

Sawyer said the violence was something that originated from the West Side but came to the South Side.

The shooter or shooters got to the vigil and "waited a second" before opening fire on the crowd that had gathered, said Brown, who was called to the scene by someone at the vigil and arrived about five minutes after the shooting. The group was mostly women and young people, Brown said, which made the shooting more disturbing.

"They clearly saw that this was a group of majority women ... and that there was a lot of young individuals there," Brown said. "And even though the shooters are young, I'm really taken aback at the disregard for life. Women and children have always been off limits. That no longer seems to be the case."

The restaurant near the vigil. [DNAinfo/Andrea Watson]

The scene of the shooting was "chaos," Brown said.

On Thursday, Fields' mother was doing "OK" and "trying to take all this in," Brown said. Brown said he plans to see her and some of the other victims — two of whom he personally knows — later in the day.

Sawyer said a 16-year-old boy wounded in the incident might be paralyzed. 

Fields, 20, was shot dead early Monday in Austin. Officers found her with a gunshot wound to her head in the 5000 block of West Maypole Avenue. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said she was from South Bend, Ind., but Brown said Fields moved around.

"This comes at a very tumultuous time in our city with all this violence," Brown said of Wednesday's shooting. "We cannot ignore what's happening to this generation. This generation is really accepting the violent culture, and they're taking it as their everyday reality. And we have to do something about this."

Sawyer referenced President Donald Trump's comments suggesting he would "send in the feds" if Chicago can't handle its violence.

"No community is immune right now so we all have to stand together and do what's necessary to combat this," he said, adding that the federal government can help by providing resources beginning with work programs and jobs.

"Let's put people to work. The rest is common sense legislation; for those who can't be helped, they need to be incarcerated. I hate to sound harsh, but it is what it is."

Sawyer said incidents like the shooting make entrepreneurs hesitant about doing business in the community.

The victims in Wednesday night's shooting:

• A 16-year-old boy was shot in his neck and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition, police said.

• A 20-year-old woman was shot in her left leg and buttocks and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition, police said.

• A 12-year-old boy had his head grazed by a bullet. He was taken to Comer Children's Hospital, where his condition was not available but he was listed as "stable," police said. Police originally said the victim was a girl.

• A 20-year-old woman was shot in her right leg and taken to Stroger Hospital, where her condition was not available but she was listed as "stable," police said.

• A 34-year-old woman was shot in her right hand and taken to Stroger Hospital, where her condition was not available but she was listed as "stable," police said. Police originally said the woman was 43.

• A 17-year-old was shot in his right arm. He took himself to Jackson Park Hospital, where his condition was not available but he was listed as "stable," police said.

• A 20-year-old woman had her right ankle grazed by a bullet. She refused treatment at the scene, police said.

No one was in custody.