Cynthia Jones, grandmother of Amere Deese, treasures her years-old voice recording of her grandson from his eighth grade graduation.
“Sometimes I have to sit and listen to his voice, even if it’s just 40 seconds,” Jones told the Chicago Sun-Times Thursday.
Hours earlier, nearly 2½ years after Amere, then 14, was shot and killed, a 16-year-old was charged in the killing, according to Chicago police. That teen is the second suspect charged in the Feb. 25, 2024, shooting in Chatham that also claimed two other lives.
The teen charged Thursday faces three counts of first-degree murder, along with six other related murder charges, as well as a count of attempted murder and a charge of armed robbery, police said. He was arrested Wednesday in the 6700 block of South Loomis Boulevard.
The other suspect, Antonio Velasco, then 16, was arrested in Hazel Crest and charged as an adult in March 2024 in connection with the homicides, police said. He was hit with 43 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted robbery and aggravated battery.
Prosecutors and family members said Velasco had been like an older brother to Deese, but he opened fire in the home after deciding he wanted to steal a rifle, prosecutors said.
Jones said the charges brought her family a sense of relief. They’d been cautious since the shooting, considering that one of the suspects was still on the loose. She said the teen charged Thursday attended a nearby school, and her other grandson was moved to a school in another neighborhood to avoid any possible interaction.
Jones said after Amere’s mom died of cirrhosis of the liver two years before his shooting, his family had tried to make sure he was well taken care of. Amere also would give out any extra clothes or shoes he had to friends, including Velasco and the 16-year-old charged Thursday.
“To know somebody hurt him in this way that he shared so much with, it’s just very hurtful,” Jones told the Sun-Times Thursday afternoon. “I don’t understand it.”
The four who were shot had been hanging out in a home in the 8000 block of South Vincennes Avenue with Velasco and the teen charged Thursday and playing with a rifle, prosecutors said in previous hearings.
The rifle was eventually set on the floor behind a television in the room, prosecutors said. Velasco returned to the room with a handgun and opened fire, they said.
The hail of bullets killed Deese; Ladeverett West-Ringgold, 20; and Randy Graham, 36. A 16-year-old boy also in the room was wounded.
Deese had still been reeling from his mother’s death, but was on a better path, his grandmother said.
Jones remembered her grandson as a “funny young man,” always willing to break into a silly dance if he knew it would make his sisters laugh when they were sad. Now she is quick to do the same when his sisters miss him.
“We were so happy when he decided to straighten up. He was ‘Mr. School,’ doing everything he needed to do in life for himself,” Jones said. “We’re still in the grieving process; it hurts.”
A hearing has not been set for the 16-year-old charged, according to Cook County court records. Velasco’s case is ongoing; the next court date in that case is set for July 23.
“I feel bad for everybody in this situation, including these two young men who did this,” Jones said. “They’re so young to be losing their life to the system. I’m praying for all of us.”