Mia Clayton was on her way to an appointment Monday when she missed a call from her brother, Lenier.
Clayton texted him, asking him to stop by, but received no response.
Minutes later, Lenier was shot and killed in an apparent act of road rage on Interstate 80 in New Lenox.
An Illinois State Police trooper was at Mia Clayton’s to deliver the horrible news not long after she had texted her brother.
“I was stunned,” Mia Clayton, 42, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I did not immediately cry. … But I was in disbelief that we were being told not only my brother was dead but that someone murdered him, and that’s what makes it so much harder.”
Police announced first-degree murder charges Wednesday morning against Phillip E. Rogers, 45, of Chicago. Rogers, taken into custody shortly after the shooting, also faces a charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
The shooting was on the ramp from westbound I-80 to I-355. Troopers arrived at the scene about 5:30 p.m. Monday and found Clayton, 30. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, state police said.
Troopers told Mia Clayton the shooting appears to be an act of road rage. Lenier Clayton’s car was totaled and it appears he had been forced off the road, according to his sister.
She says justice for her brother is “more than important.”
“If justice — for whatever reason — is not to be served, it would [be] twice, three times the blow,” Mia Clayton said. “[The gunman] had no right to do what he did.”
Lenier Clayton, described by his sister as “someone everybody loved,” was the youngest of three. He worked at an auto auction shop in Markham.
“He loved his family deeply, he was kindhearted [and] he was funny,” Mia Clayton said. “He was just a good guy that didn’t deserve this.”
One of Mia Clayton’s favorite memories of her brother was the time they spent at a Mojo Brookzz comedy show they attended a week earlier.
The two almost didn’t go because Mia Clayton was sick in the hospital, but the night of the show was the last time she saw her brother. After he got home, Lenier Clayton texted his sister: “I love you, sissy. I’m glad we got to go do that. That was fun.”
“We didn’t know what was to come, but I’m very glad we got to do that,” Mia Clayton said.
Lenier Clayton’s “always genuine” smile stood out to his sister, and he often was told he was a “spitting image” of his father, who died in 2018. Lenier was “not shy,” said his sister, who added he loved dancing and music, specifically hip-hop, his sister said. His favorite artist was Memphis-born rapper Key Glock.
“He could catch a beat to anything,” Mia Clayton said. “He really was the life of the party. … People really did gravitate toward him.”
A GoFundMe page was created to help Lenier Clayton’s family with funeral costs. More than $18,000 had been collected as of early Wednesday afternoon, toward a goal of $25,000.