2 people shot to death outside store in Harvey

Family of 1 victim pleads for shooters to come forward

Two young men, ages 17 and 18, were shot dead Tuesday night outside of a store in Harvey, according to a spokesman for the city.

On Wednesday, the family of Taijean Hall, of Harvey, one of those killed, pleaded for those involved to turn themselves into police.

The second person killed was Bryan Harris, 18, brother of Ryan Harris, according to spokesman Sean Howard.

The July 1998 rape and murder of Ryan Harris, whose body was found in an overgrown lot in Chicago’s Englewood community, drew national attention. Initially, two boys, ages 7 and 8, were charged in her death but charges were soon dropped, and, in 2006, Floyd Durr was convicted.

The shooting happened about 10:30 p.m. at a store at 146th and Halsted streets, according to Howard.

Four males drove up in a black Jeep Cherokee.

One got out and went inside the store. Three males who had been across the street, entered the store, confronted the person from the Jeep and then left the store, Howard said.

The three people who had stayed in the Jeep got out, and shots were fired. Two of the people who had left the store were shot and later died, Howard said.

The occupants of the Jeep then fled in their vehicle.

Howard said that of the seven people involved in the incident, six had guns. Police believe those involved were between the ages of 16 and 19.

Hours after the shooting, the Jeep matching the description of the one from the shooting scene was spotted in Chicago, and police began to pursue it, but the chase was called off by Illinois State Police for safety reasons, Howard said.

At a news conference at the Harvey Police Department, family members of Hall said he had a “bright, promising future,” and pleaded for those involved in the shooting to turn themselves over to police.

“Taijean was raised right,” his aunt, Wendi Washington said. “Taijean knew right from wrong.”

She said the family was asking for “peace and privacy,” and hoped that there would be “no retaliation” in the wake of the shooting.

With several family members gathered around him amid the sound of muffled sobs, Hall’s father, Courteney Hall, said he “tried my best with him,” but that there is “only so much you can do” as a parent.

Harvey Police Chief Gregory Thomas, speaking at the news conference after Hall’s family, said the shooting was the result of an “ongoing feud” that may have been “generated or continued by way of social media.”

He said that parents need to “become nosy” and inspect their children’s rooms for signs they may be involved in something improper and also “stalk their social media pages.”

The double fatal shooting comes after Harvey police responded to three shootings over the weekend, including one Sunday morning in which a 22-year-old Harvey man was killed.

Social media was a factor in those weekend shootings, and Harvey police has assigned two officers to focus on potential criminal activity stemming from such online exchanges, Howard said.

In Tuesday’s shooting, shots were fired inside and outside the store, and police recovered three handguns at the scene, Thomas said.

Police did not have anyone in custody as of Wednesday afternoon, but were “following up some promising leads,” he said. He encouraged the public to call police with information.

He said police were looking for at least three individuals, and that police were close to identifying those involved in the shooting.

The chief said that “something has to happen” to stem the amount of gun violence, and blamed lawmakers for “not hearing the cries” of those protesting gun violence.

“I’m fed up with it,” Thomas said, asking that legislators “give us the laws to help us protect our community.”