At 14 years old, Armani Floyd stood out among his peers at a South Shore after-school basketball program where many considered him like family.
Armani was an aggressive player who attacked the rim and could finish with both hands, said McKinley Nelson, founder of Project sWish, which uses basketball to combat street violence.
“Guys his size, you wouldn’t imagine them to have the kind of handles that [Armani] has. He dribbled like a smaller guy,” Nelson said. “He could do more on the floor than the average 14-year-old.”
After Armani’s death Friday during a shooting in a Loop “teen takeover,” Nelson said his peers in the program are struggling.
“They’re hurting and grieving right now because they looked at [Armani] like a brother,” Nelson said.
Armani was killed in one of two shootings that wounded eight others during a large teen gathering in the Loop Friday. Armani was near Federal Plaza when gunfire erupted about 10:40 p.m., fatally striking him and wounding an 18-year-old, authorities said.
Another shooting about an hour earlier wounded seven teens, ages 13 to 17, in front of the Chicago Theatre.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said the shootings, which happened shortly after the annual tree-lighting ceremony in Millennium Park, “set us back as a city, and it evokes fear.”
Nineteen people were arrested after the shootings, and several of them were charged with reckless conduct and gun possession, the Chicago Police Department said Monday afternoon.
‘So much blood’
Trinitee Gillard Pratt, 14, was shot in her hip during the shooting outside the Chicago Theatre, her aunt and guardian Timikron Pratt told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“She thought she was gonna die,” Timikron Pratt said. “It was so much blood, and she was screaming for help, and everybody had ran and left her.”
She said her niece was Downtown for the tree-lighting ceremony.
Trinitee was treated and released from Lurie Children’s Hospital Sunday and “is doing wonderful,” though she is walking with a limp and needs help getting out of bed, Timikron Pratt, 48, said.
The bullet entered a muscle in the teen’s hip, she said. The doctors and family decided to leave the bullet in her.
“Doctors said she’s lucky,” Timikron Pratt said.
Pratt said her niece is an honors student and basketball player at Morgan Park High School and was scheduled to play Saturday morning. It’s not clear when she will fully recover.
“She’s a sweet girl. She don’t give us no trouble, even being a teenager,” she said.
‘A tough process for all of them’
Nelson met Armani over two years ago when he joined the basketball program.
Though Nelson beat Armani in a one-on-one basketball game with a pair of new basketball shoes on the line, he planned to gift the teen new shoes for Christmas anyway.
Nelson said he plans to honor the teen’s name by gifting a pair of shoes to every teen in the group’s South Shore branch who is processing his death.
“He was always there playing basketball with the kids in the community,” Nelson, 28, said. “There’s been a huge response from the kids in our program. … It’s just a tough process for all of them right now.”
Multiple rewards are being offered for tips that lead to a conviction in Armani’s slaying. Cook County Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for information about Armani’s death. The Youth Peace and Justice Foundation announced a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest in the same case.
Nelson said he wants those responsible to be held accountable and learn from what happened.
“I want [Armani’s] family to come to peace with whatever closure they may need,” Nelson said. “Being the person that I am to these young guys, I just want them to learn from one of their peers and just make better decisions moving forward.”
Nelson said he last saw Armani two days before the shooting. He said he wished he could talk to him again.
Armani was “funny, happy and grateful,” Nelson said. “He cracked a lot of jokes and [was] kind of like the life of the party or just the energy in the gym that we needed. … I didn’t think that would be my last time seeing him, but I’m happy I got to see him for the last time.”