“Babe, I’m finna lose my whole family for you”. So went the Instagram post from a 15-year-old East St. Louis teen to her 16-year-old boyfriend, only to be followed by a horrific series of seven targeted shootings (of her family members) with five resulting in murder, at multiple locations in East St. Louis.
Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, prosecutors and investigators described the incident as a “targeted mass shooting against a family” and have, since, charged Ja’ymeir Davis, 16 as an adult, with five counts of murder and the 15-year-old female with five counts of murder as well.
It instantly became a national news story and traumatized the entire East St. Louis community because of the uncommon, premeditated, cruelty and heinous nature of the crime by two lovestruck youth.
And in a sad way, the story has almost played out like some sort of sordid, twisted Shakespearean tragedy meets Helter Skelter, an inexplicable horror.
However, in any major tragedy like these, there are always missed signals and missed opportunities to mentor, nurture and intervene in the lives of youth in such a way as to offset such a major catastrophe.
While politicians and community leaders were immediately taken to suggest that these murders do not reflect East St. Louis, writ large, and are simply a one-off; others, were quick to condemn the youthful perpetrators as “misguided”, at best, and “pure evil”, at worst.
But, as I’ve had time to unpack this tragedy and systematically exhale as some of the victim’s funerals were recently held (ages ranging from 74 to 21 years of age), I pondered what would cause a youths to murder a beloved grandmother and, other, immediate family members.
Speculation, based upon social media posts, is that family members objected to the relationship between the teen girl, 15 and Ja’ymeir Davis, 16 and, that, the murders and shootings were retaliatory in nature.
However, in any major tragedy like these, there are always missed signals and missed opportunities to mentor, nurture and intervene in the lives of youth in such a way as to offset such a major catastrophe.
In speaking to a number of East St. Louis community members, family, classmates and others, we couldn’t fathom the mindset of a teen willing to sacrifice a beloved grandmother and extended family members over the affection of some youthful love interest.
Then again, East St. Louis, urban America (and society in general) has devolved to the point where the mentors, recreational programs, extracurricular and community activities and outlets aren’t as plentiful and meaningful as they were to us as youth.
They have been replaced by isolation, virtual “friendships,” violent video games, Hollywood productions, and rap lyrics that glamorize and normalize violence and murder in the minds of our youth.
So, without the proper supports, parental engagement and deprogramming of our youth, a mass murder becomes acceptable in the minds of some youth who may not be academically or athletically inclined or gifted.
In short, our village has failed our youth. Despite the best efforts of a committed few, negative influences and messages are prevailing—and will continue to do so until we change the narrative, counter those messages, and reclaim our young people.