Gang member father of 9-year-old boy killed selling t-shirts with son’s face a day after boy’s death
Gang member father of 9-year-old boy killed selling t-shirts with son’s face a day after boy’s death
The father of a nine-year-old Chicago boy executed in an apparent revenge attack started selling ‘RIP t-shirts’ with his son’s face on them online just days after the killing.
The shirts, which were available through a GoFundMe that was recently deactivated, were put up as it was revealed the boy’s mother used donations meant for her son’s burial to buy a new car.
Tyshawn Lee, an elementary school student headed to his grandmother’s house, was ‘lured’ from a park into a South Side neighborhood alley and shot in the head and back last Monday in what police say was an ‘absolutely hateful’ killing motivated by his father’s alleged gang affiliations.
The father, Pierre Stokes, wrote online that by selling the shirts he was trying to fix the wrongs that done by the boy’s mother, Karla Lee.
‘I understand the mother of my son did wrong by that money but what the news is not telling, that they are only paying for half the cost of everything,’ Stokes, writing under the alias Wooh Gotti, posted online.
The post continued: ‘They are blaming us so they don’t have to pay the full cost of everything. She is in the wrong for doing what she did with the money for our son, just give me a chance to lay my son to rest the right way.’
The page was hoping to raise $2,500, and the memorial shirts were being sold for $25-$45, DNA Info reported.
However the page no longer exists.
On Saturday night, Karla Lee denied reports that she used the funds meant for funeral expenses to make a down payment on a 2015 Chrysler 200.
Lee, 26, felt compelled to defend herself after the dealership where she bought the car posted about the deal on Facebook and users who had donated to her reacted negatively, ABC 7 reported.
She said on Saturday: ‘Y’all don’t know nothing about me.’
‘For y’all to be bashing me like that, and I just lost my child.’
The grieving mother said she used her own money on the car and that she purchased it because she was scared she would be targeted while taking the bus or walking.
‘I told them I was scared and I was fearing,’ she said.
‘Too bad if y’all don’t understand that.’
The GoFundMe page, which raised more than $17,400, was created by Lee’s friend.
Lee said that there is still $13,000 remaining in the fundraising account after GoFundMe took its percentage fee and she paid for some of the expenses for the funeral that will take place on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Tyshawn’s slaying was the result of two gangs fighting, potentially in a string of retaliatory events dating back months.
He also said the boy’s father wasn’t cooperating with police.
McCarthy called it probably the ‘most abhorrent, cowardly unfathomable crime that I’ve witnessed in 35 years of policing.’
‘Everybody is sick; everybody is disgusted.’
The child’s father, Pierre Stokes, has disagreed with authorities’ characterization of him and said he’s easy to find.
He hasn’t talked about whether he’s a gang member but said police have spent more time pursuing him than finding out who killed his son.
‘I answered every question they asked me,’ he told reporters Thursday not far from the spot his son was killed.
‘They’re not asking me questions that I know. I don’t know the questions that they asked me.’
A memorial for the boy — stuffed animals, candles and balloons — still lingers in the alley.
Police have executed several search warrants in the investigation, but refuse to release details.
A ‘person of interest’ turned himself into police Wednesday and was released between late Wednesday and early Thursday without charges.
Authorities have said they know the gangs and individuals involved but need help assessing who did what.
They reiterated a plea for any information that will help lead to charges, acknowledging fears people may have of being targeted for speaking out.
‘We’ll take those steps to keep it as quiet as we can,’ McCarthy said.
At least $35,000 is being offered for information leading to charges in connection with the boy’s death.
Members of the Faith Community of St. Sabina, a well-known South Side Roman Catholic church, have raised money from around the country.
The Rev Michael Pfleger, a priest at St. Sabina who is known for his anti-violence activism, said he would pay money out of his own pocket to help anyone with information move from Chicago.
‘This was not a drive-by. This was not a spray of bullets. A baby was executed,’ Pfleger said.
‘We have gone to a new low that’s removed what used to be some codes, some barriers, some lines that used to be drawn in the community, some things in our city that were not acceptable.’
