Shooting in Country Club Hills: 2 brothers fatally shot in home invasion, mother says
Country Club police provided few details on what took place
COUNTRY CLUB HILLS, Ill. (WLS) -- Two brothers in their early 20s were shot and killed in south suburban Country Club Hills during a home invasion Tuesday night, their mother said.
Country Club Hills police said they were called to the residence in the 19000-block of Farmcrest Trail after someone reported a home invasion about 7:30 p.m. When they arrived, officers found two people in the residence with gunshot wounds.
Both were taken to local hospitals for treatment, and the medical examiner's office later confirmed they had died.
They were identified as Kimani Whalum, 20, of Country Club Hills and Clarence Whalum, 22, of Country Club Hills.
Their mother said the brothers were killed in their own home. Now she's desperate for answers, calling this a senseless act.
"All I know is that I got a phone call from my daughter saying that my son had been shot, and so I raced home and so I was looking for my other son, not knowing that he was also in the house, shot," said Traci Rogers.
She said her oldest son was walked into the house by another person while being held at gunpoint. His brother was asleep.
That's when they were both shot, she said.
"It was so senseless; I just don't understand. Why would you come and take my kids' life? For what? What did they do to you?" Rogers said.
She said she wasn't sure if anything was taken from the home, but the two men were shot right in front of their grandparents.
"My 80-year-old father had to do CPR on my kids," Rogers said.
She added that everything appeared normal with her sons in the last few days.
"They weren't into trouble. They were your typical kids. I mean, kids get in trouble, but, no, were my kids killers? No," Rogers said.
Now, she and her family are picking up the pieces of these two lives lost.
"Clarence, he made sure that everyone was always OK. He loved everybody. I guess he was probably just too friendly, just loved everybody, saw the good in everybody," Rogers said. "And my baby Kimani, he was everything. Both of them is everything to me."
Rogers has one message for the people who killed her sons.
"You can run away all you want to, but God sees everything. You might think you're getting away, but you're not getting away with nothing because you gotta answer to the higher being anyway," she said.
An investigation by County Club Hills police and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force is underway.
Police did not initially provide additional information about what took place Tuesday night.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 708-798-3191. Tips can also be given anonymously on the SWORN tip line at 708-206-2899.
