9-Year-Old Was Executed In Retaliation For Killing By Dad's Gang: Police

By Emma G. Gallegos in News on Nov 6, 2015 10:55PM

Tyshawn Lee (GoFundMe)

Police suspected the worst in the fatal shooting of Tyshawn Lee, but now they're saying it more forcefully: the 9-year-old was lured into a South Side alley on Monday afternoon and executed because of his dad's gang ties.

"Tyshawn Lee was murdered in probably the most abhorrent, cowardly, unfathomable crime that I've witnessed in 35 years of policing," Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters Thursday, according to CNN. The shooting happened Monday afternoon, and Tyshawn was fatally shot several times in his upper body.

McCarthy did say that they're getting a lot of leads from the community and they're close to cracking the case, but they don't quite have enough evidence to make an arrest, according to the Tribune. Right now, there's $35,000 in reward money for information leading to an arrest. One person of interest in the case turned himself over to investigators, but he brought his lawyer and refused to talk so investigators had to let him go.

"We're pretty certain that we know exactly how it occurred. We know when it occurred. We're pretty certain that we even know the individuals involved," McCarthy said. "But we need a little bit more to make sure that (an arrest) happens."

Law enforcement told the Tribune that they believe Tyshawn was targeted in a bloody war between two gangs, the Gangster Disciples and the Black P Stones. Tyshawn's father Pierre Stokes is reportedly a member of Gangster Disciples' Killa Ward faction, and they believe the Terror Dome faction of the Black P Stones targeted Tyshawn because of his dad's gang connections. McCarthy says that when they tried to question Stokes in the case he was uncooperative and responded with words that "you can't say ... on TV."

Earlier Stokes expressed frustration at police's line of questioning that has focused on his gang ties: "I'm not the killer. Worry about the killer."

McCarthy said Stokes' probably isn't key to the case but he was baffled at his lack of cooperation: "I don't think he's a witness to it, so I'm not sure how he could help us, but I could tell you this, I'm a father, many of us here are fathers. My reaction would be a little bit different."

Rev. Michael Pfleger has offered to help relocate any witnesses who feel they are in danger. He told CNN, "What happened to Tyshawn Lee took us to a new low. This wasn't a drive-by. This was not a spray of bullets. A baby was executed. A baby was assassinated right behind us in this alley."