8-year-old boy fatally shot in Markham late Monday afternoon
An 8-year-old boy was fatally shot outside his home in Markham on Monday afternoon and authorities said the child’s older brother may have been the intended target of the fatal drive-by shooting.
Demetrius Stevenson, of the 15700 block of Homan Avenue, was identified as the child who was shot on the same block where he lived, according to information from the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at 5:28 p.m.
Michael Taylor, spokesman for the city of Markham, said Demetrius was shot in the head about 30 minutes earlier as he stood outside the family home with his older brother, who is 18.
“For some reason, a group of individuals made their way down to the address, ... trying to harm this ... 18-year-old older brother. They see him and they started to shoot,” Taylor said.
Demetrius was struck at least once; his brother was not injured, officials said. Taylor said investigators believe the shooting may have been retaliatory for the older brother’s alleged gang affiliation.
“They come to that address and they see the older brother and they shoot multiple times from a vehicle, which we’re trying to identify, and they carelessly shoot a young 8-year-old boy in the head,” he said.
Taylor said officers “went door-todoor, meticulously trying to find out anything” about the vehicle or the shooter. He said it was not immediately clear how many people were in the vehicle or how many shots were fired.
“It was just heart-wrenching,” Taylor said, describing the moment, hours later, when Demetrius’s mother arrived back at the home upon learning it was her son who was killed. She fainted and hit the ground as authorities tried to console her, he said.
“We were just trying to search for the words, but what do you say to someone who has just found out that their son has passed in that way? You don’t have any words for that, because there shouldn’t be any. It was just a senseless murder, the worst thing that you could ever imagine,” he said.
There was an active warrant for the arrest of the 18-year-old, Taylor said. The teen, who was not identified, was taken into custody by Markham police. Taylor said he was unsure what the
warrant was for or where it had been issued.
Taylor said police are familiar with the home, which is a rental property, and have had contact with it “numerous times over the last few years.” It was unclear how long the family has been renting the home.
“This is an isolated incident; we have a great community and don’t see anything like this,” Taylor said. “The mayor was just really shook by it and will continue to be upset. Hopefully, hopefully, someone has a camera on their house, on their door or someone saw something so we can begin the process of trying to get the information out to the community so we can try to put this thing together and find these people. We’re hoping, we’re praying.”