Chicago crime: $10K reward offered in fatal Canaryville shooting of Dajore Wilson, 8

Girl's mother Tracy Holmes begs gunman to come forward

ByJesse Kirsch WLS logo
Friday, September 11, 2020
Dajore Wilson shooting
Dajore Wilson shootingPolice hope a $10,000 reward will help them find the gunman in the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Dajore Wilson in Canaryville on Labor Day.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A $10,000 reward has been announced for information in the fatal shooting of an 8-year-old girl in Canaryville on Labor Day as Chicago police ask the community for help finding the shooter.

Chicago police promised Friday to find the the person who shot and killed 8-year-old Dajore Wilson.

"Every child deserves to be safe," said Deputy Chief Yolanda Talley. "That's a basic human right. And if a child in our city is not safe, then we are not safe."

Witnesses said Tracy Holmes was holding her daughter Dajore Wilson in her arms as the girl died last Monday.

RELATED: 8-year-old girl killed when someone fired shots into car, police say

Loved ones of another little girl, the latest victim of the city's raging gun violence, now know the pain of losing a child in an instant.

Police said Wilson was in the back of her parents' car when a black Dodge Charger pulled up behind them near 47th Street and Union Avenue. Someone exited the vehicle and starts shooting repeatedly before speeding off.

"What we are seeing in our city is that we are having more juvenile victims of homicide," Talley said. "It shouldn't be trending upward. It should be trending downward."

Dajore was fatally shot and three others were injured.

At a press conference Friday, Early Walker with the group "I'm Telling Don't Shoot" announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the shooter. Walker said the funds will be dispersed immediately if charges are filed.

The reward was announced near a memorial for Wilson adorned with balloons and candles at the Canaryville corner where she lost her life.

"I want to say to those who are listening, watching. If you know anything about this and you are not speaking up, then you are co-signing a child's murder," said Bishop Larry Trotter, of Sweet Holy Spirit Church.

Mother pleads for shooter to come forward

Three days since her daughter was murdered, Tracy Holmes called for her daughter's killer to come forward.

Tracy Holmes, the mother of a murdered 8-year-old girl, spoke publicly Thursday for the first time since losing her daughter to Chicago gun violence.

"She didn't get to experience everything that she's supposed to experience," Holmes said. "She was only 8."

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ABC7 obtained security camera footage that shows how the shooting that killed an 8-year-old girl on Chicago's South Side went down.

Holmes made an appeal directly to the killer.

"I know somebody sitting at home right now that did this," the grieving mother said. "If y'all don't feel something, something is wrong with y'all."

"This is a mother that carried her children, and a twin," said Cashmere House, a friend of the family. "You know who you are. Come forward."

Now a twin little boy has no sister to share a birthday with, and a mother wants to know who carelessly murdered her only daughter.

Chicago police said they're making progress solving homicides in the city, but they can't do it alone.

"It is crucial if you know something, this is the time to say something," said Glen Brooks, director of public engagement for the Chicago Police Department. "We have to draw this bright line where our kids are not sacrificed from some petty squabbles or perceived wrong."

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to report it anonymously to police at CPDTip.com.