Six-month-old Jonylah Watkins was fatally shot over a stolen video game console, Chicago police said Monday as they announced an arrest in a slaying that has come to symbolize the city's deadly gun culture.
Authorities charged Koman Willis, 33, with killing the infant and shooting her father while they sat parked in a minivan in the Woodlawn neighborhood on March 11. A bullet entered Jonylah's right shoulder and traveled down through her left thigh. She died the following day. Her father, Jonathan Watkins, survived multiple gunshot wounds.
Jonathan Watkins, 29, had been Willis' target "in retaliation for a stolen video game system," police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said. The animosity began after a game system was taken from Willis' Chatham apartment and sold to someone else in the neighborhood, according to law enforcement sources.
When the new owner hooked up the system at home, he saw it belonged to Willis, a fairly well-known figure in the neighborhood and a convicted felon with more than three dozen arrests dating to 1996. Not wanting any trouble, the new owner returned the game console to Willis and told him that he purchased it from Watkins, one of the sources said.
Willis began questioning people about Watkins, and a short time later he opened fire on Watkins' minivan as he sat with Jonylah in the front seat, police said. Willis then escaped in a blue conversion van spotted on surveillance video near the scene, according to authorities.
Authorities identified Willis as a possible suspect early in the case, but they did not have enough evidence to charge him until detectives persuaded several witnesses to fully cooperate with the investigation last week.
"Mr. Willis has been a suspect for a very long time," McCarthy said. "The question was whether or not we could show it in a court of law."
Investigators were able to track down acquaintances of Willis's - people identified as either getting arrested or stopped on the street with him at some point - to aid in the murder case, a law enforcement source said. One of those acquaintances, who was on probation or parole, told investigators last week that Willis had spoken to him about how he shot Jonylah and her father, the source said.
Word had gotten back last week to Willis that investigators were putting pressure on his acquaintances, according to the source, before his lawyer agreed to turn Willis in to Area Central police headquarters on Saturday.
While in custody, Willis did not make any statements to investigators, the source said. The investigators have not been able to find the murder weapon or the van Willis allegedly used to flee from the crime scene.
Willis is expected in bond court Tuesday. His lengthy criminal record includes aggravated assault of a police officer from a 2002 incident in which he was sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, a 2007 conviction for drugs for which he was sentenced to one year in prison, and a conviction for a 2005 drug charge for which he received a year in prison. He also has a 1998 weapons charge for which he received probation.
In the days following Jonylah's death, McCarthy suggested the shooting was gang-related because of Watkins' criminal history and his inclusion in a gang database maintained by the Police Department. Willis also has gang ties, McCarthy said Monday, but the superintendent no longer believes gang affiliations played a role in Jonylah's death.
"We believe that the motivation was burglary," McCarthy said. "Sometimes it's hard to separate that out. You've got two gang members involved in a shooting, you naturally assume that it was gang-related. But sometimes it's over a girl; sometimes it's over narcotics. It could be over anything."
Throughout much of the investigation, authorities privately questioned Watkins' willingness to help detectives. Relatives, however, insisted he wanted his daughter's killer caught and that he had spoken candidly with authorities after being released from the hospital.
McCarthy — who publicly had said "there was a lot more" Watkins could do to help police — gave a lukewarm endorsement of the family's cooperation.
"There was a lot of interviewing that went on with Jonathan's family," McCarthy said. "Some of it was helpful and some of it wasn't."
The Rev. Corey Brooks, a family spokesman, said they spent Monday morning at their daughter's grave and had prayed for her killer's arrest since March. Jonathan Watkins — who is not expected to be charged with burglary in the case — will make a public statement Tuesday, Brooks said.
"They are very grateful and thankful," Brooks said of family members. "Hopefully they will be able to put this part behind them and go forward."
Like Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old high school student fatally shot less than two months earlier, Jonylah made national headlines as yet another young victim of gun violence in Chicago.
More than 500 people were killed in the city last year, the vast majority by gunfire. It was the first time Chicago passed that number since 2008.
Following Hadiya and Jonylah's deaths, activist Beverly Reed-Scott helped organize the Young People's Peace March and Rally to call attention to the children suffering on the South Side. They scheduled the event for Memorial Day, the typical start of the summer season and often deadly months in the city's crime-plagued neighborhoods.
Following Hadiya and Jonylah's deaths, activist Beverly Reed-Scott helped organize the Young People's Peace March and Rally to call attention to the children suffering on the South Side. They scheduled the event for Memorial Day, the typical start of the summer season and often deadly months in the city's crime-plagued neighborhoods.
"We were already reeling from Hadiya's death, but when baby Jonylah was shot, there was a wave of fear that reached all of us. We thought 'not the babies. Please, not the babies,'" Reed-Scott said.
About 100 schoolchildren participated in the march, which kicked off just a few blocks from President Barack Obama's home near Washington Park. Caitlyn Smith, 8, addressed the crowd, reading a short speech from her "Hello Kitty" notebook.
"Violence isn't the answer," she said. "If violence is the first thing that you think about when there's a problem, think again."
Carlee McKinney, 12, said he stopped playing outside after the deaths of Hadiya and Jonylah because he was scared. His fears have ebbed somewhat recently, but he still prefers to stay inside with the doors locked.
"I want it to get better, so maybe being in this march will help," he said.
The march ended just as police scheduled a news conference to announce Willis' arrest. Reed-Scott saw the criminal charges as an affirmation of the rally's purpose.
"It's amazing to have (Willis) arrested on the day that we stand up for peace," she said. "It shows that the universe wants the violence to end."
Tribune reporters Carlos Sadovi, Jennifer Delgado and Stacy St. Clair contributed.
Friday, May 31, 2013
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