Members of the Faith Community of St. Sabina joined the Chicago Police Department for a roll call and prayer service at the corner of May and 79th streets on Feb. 6 to remember 26-year-old Gabryel Ayers, who was shot and killed there two days earlier on Feb. 4 in broad daylight.
The shooting was caught on video by a driver stopped on 79th Street and circulated widely on social media. St. Sabina’s food pantry is located just steps away from where the shooting took place.
Ayers’ 13-month-old daughter was in the car with her at the time of the shooting but was unharmed.
Members of the Chicago Police Department Sixth District stood in parade rest while elected officials and members of St. Sabina addressed media and those gathered for the service.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told the gathering that he would stand with victims’ families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. He thanked the community and the police for their continued support for fostering peace.
“This tragedy continues to tear at the thread of the soul of Chicago,” he said. “It’s tragedies like this that remind us of how much more work we have to do.”
Pam Bosley, executive director of St. Sabina’s Purpose Over Pain support group for parents who have lost children to gun violence, addressed the gathering surrounded by other parents whose children were killed by guns.
Most of their cases remain unsolved, Bosley said.
“Unfortunately, I understand the pain of not knowing who murdered your child,” said Bosley, whose son Terrell, 18, was killed in 2006.
“It’s been 20 years and his case remains unsolved. I still have so many unanswered questions,” she said. “We want Gaby to have justice.”
Citing the video showing the Ayers’ shooters, Bosley urged those who know who the shooters are to tell the police.
“You know who that person was, we need you to say something because we need justice for our children,” Bosley said. “If you don’t do nothing about it, let me tell you, you’re going to be standing up here with us next. This is not where you want to be.”
Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education and managing partner of Chicago CRED, said in addition to Ayers being shot, he personally knew two young men who were shot and one who was killed that week.
“We have a lot of work to do together,” Duncan said. “The fact that the baby wasn’t killed here is an absolute miracle. I’m incredibly grateful and thankful for that, but that’s a baby that’s going to grow up without her mother.”
While the focus recently has been on the presence of U.S. Immigration Enforcement Agents in the city, “this wasn’t them,” Duncan noted.
“When they’re not here, we have to come together. We have to stop having the next generation of kids growing up without their parents,” he said.
Father Michael Pfleger, senior pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina, said guns are the first thing people grab in a dispute and that has to change.
“It’s part of our love affair in this country of guns,” Pfleger said. “Until we change that, as long as we have young people who don’t love themselves, don’t love each other and don’t have opportunities to do something different, we keep hearing about second chances, we need to have some first chances for our young people in this city and in this country.”
Like Bosley, Pfleger called on people to report the shooters who killed Ayers.
“Somebody always knows something,” he said. “Unfortunately, these folks that go out and shoot and don’t care about anybody, they brag about it. Somebody knows. Somebody recognizes them.”
If a person knows a shooter and does not turn them into police, they are complicit in the crime, he said.
“If they shoot here, they’re gonna shoot anywhere and they may shoot you,” he said. “A mother was killed here. I’m tired of Black women being killed and disappearing in this country. I’m tired of Black women being shot in this country.”
Pfleger announced that St. Sabina was offering $10,000 to anyone who offered information that leads to an arrest of Ayers’ killer. Cook County Crime Stoppers has also offered a $10,000 reward.