4 shot, 3 fatally inside West Chatham home, police say; family IDs boy, 14, killed in shooting

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Three people were killed, including a 14-year-old boy, and another person wounded in a shooting inside a home in the West Chatham neighborhood Sunday night, Chicago police said.

Heartbroken family members shared a picture of 14-year-old Amere Deese.

"Feeling like I've been robbed. My grandson was just beginning to bloom," said Cynthia Jones, Deese's grandmother.

He was shot in the back Sunday night inside a house in the 8000 block of South Vincennes Avenue.

Jones never expected to be here at a morgue, visiting the boy she raised after his mother, her daughter, died from an illness years ago.

"I keep that in mind that he's with his mom. I get that. But, it doesn't replace that piece of my heart that's been snatched away," Jones said.

Police said just after 7:30 p.m., there was some type of altercation inside the house when two males entered and opened fire.

"Talking with the detectives, they said nothing about an altercation. It was a home invasion, from what they explained to me," Jones said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified a 20-year-old man, who was also killed, as Ladeverett Ringgold.

A 36-year-old man was killed and a 17-year-old boy was also injured.

Family-friends returned to the scene were, they said, the Ringgold family lives.

Fred Smith said he knows the family and wanted to offer his condolences

"It's really tearing me up inside right about now and I just can't get over it," Smith said. "I'm feeling very sad about it because I loved these people."

Chicago police said they are looking for two people in connection with the West Chatham shooting.

Crisis responder Andrew Holmes called the triple murder "senseless."

"The way it looks like they knew who they was coming to shoot," Holmes said. "Especially if you're going inside a home, targeting someone's home. Now you're targeting someone's life."

SEE ALSO | 19-year-old woman killed in Pottawattomie Park shooting ID'd; sister among 3 others wounded

Sunday night, police held a news conference, but did not go into many details about the shooting.

Meanwhile, Alderman William Hall, who represents the 6th Ward, made an appeal to the public.

"Help us find these killers," Hall said. "Do not allow any killer to sleep on any couch any bed. Do it for the mother who's crying right now."

It remains unclear what sparked the altercation that led to the shooting and police are asking anyone with information to contact them.

"Whether it's your child or another child, show that child love, because you never know when something like this is going to take them away from you," Jones said.

INTERACTIVE SAFETY TRACKER Track crime and safety in your neighborhood