2 Teens Charged With Murder Of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis' Grandson

By Stephen Gossett in News on Nov 20, 2016 4:15PM

Javon Wilson / Facebook

Police have arrested and charged two teenagers in the murder of Javon Wilson, the 15-year-old grandson of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (IL-7th District).

A 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl both face charges of first-degree murder, police confirmed on Sunday morning in a release. Wilson was fatally shot in the head in his Englewood home, in the 5600 block of S. Princeton Ave., at around 6:45 p.m. on Friday evening. “The shooting may have arisen as the result of a personal dispute between the offenders and the victim,” police said in the statement.

According to CPD Communications Director Anthony Guglielmi, the shooting was not the result of a home invasion, as some, including former Speaker of the House and Donald Trump confidant Newt Gingrich speculated. Guglielmi said the killing may have stemmed from a fight over shoes.

Gingrich had lashed out with an extended Twitter rant (a bit reminiscent of Trump's tone-deaf helicopter moralizing in the wake of the murder of Nykea Aldridge), culminating in a call for federal intervention in Chicago gun violence.

"It has been a very trying, traumatic day," Davis said on Friday, according to ABC7.

"We have to find a way to get some of the guns out of our environment," he added. "I have spoken at many teenage funerals. I have comforted many families but never quite this close."

In a statement released late on Friday, Davis posited that "better education" and "more supervision" might have prevented his grandson's murder, and he thanked Chicago police for their "professionalism and sensitivity" and local press allowing the family room to grieve.