Birthday celebration, memorial planned at Johnson Prep

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One of the identical twins known as the “Bailey Boys” at Johnson College Prep was killed during a mugging over the weekend, but the tragedy will not stop their teachers and classmates from throwing a 16th birthday celebration for the brothers this afternoon at the Englewood school.

Demario and his twin, Demacio, had hoped to celebrate the occasion at Dave & Busters, a Near North Side video arcade and restaurant, family members said.

Demario was killed Saturday, three days shy of his birthday, when four muggers approached him and his brother under a viaduct in Englewood.

Demario was fatally shot in the chest when he wouldn’t hand over the winter coat his mother had recently bought him, family members said.

Four of the alleged muggers — three are 17, one is 16 — have been charged in the slaying.

Demacio played in a school basketball game Monday night to honor his brother, who was his biggest fan. Before the game, players observed a moment of silence to honor Demario, who was on the pep squad and banged a drum at games to amp up the crowd.

Demario would regularly accompany his brother to basketball practice, even though he was not on the team. The brothers were walking from a bus stop to one of those practices at Johnson Prep when Demario was killed.

Demacio scored four points Monday night during the 64-41 loss to Leyden High.

Following the game, the twins’ mother, Delores Fitzpatrick, made a passionate plea to end senseless violence.

“We need to stick together. Mothers get up and let’s live for our kids,” said Delores Bailey with tears streaming down her cheeks. “We don’t want to let them out because we scared because we know a day like this is coming.”

To avoid Demario’s fate, she called on parents to organize car pools for their kids.

“Let’s get [our kids] to where they need to be,” Delores Bailey said. “If you all don’t do it, I’m going to do it myself. I promise you, if I have to put them in my car … and drop them off and pick them up.”

“I don’t want nobody else — no other mother — to feel this,” she said as she left the gym.

The team had come out of the locker room alongside the boys’ family. With Demacio in the lead, the players lined up single-file and marched to their bus chanting, “We will live, not die.”

Demario, an honor roll student, dreamed of attending college and becoming an attorney or a police officer, according to a close friend, Charles Kirk.

In court Monday, Cook County Criminal Court Judge James Brown ordered Carlos Johnson, 17, held without bail in the slaying. The other three teens are expected to have bond hearings Tuesday.

Johnson is charged with the murder, attempted murder, armed robbery and attempted armed robbery. Prosecutors said, though, they do not believe at this time that Johnson pulled the trigger in the shooting.

As prosecutors outlined the case against him, Johnson’s mother and grandmother stood in the front row of the gallery but left without talking to reporters afterward.

Prosecutors say Johnson was involved in two armed robberies Saturday just minutes before the robbery that led to the murder of Demario Bailey. Both earlier robberies occurred in a viaduct in at 150 W. 63rd St., Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said in court.

In one of the earlier robberies, Johnson and another alleged thief stole a cell phone from a 17-year-old youth, Santini said. In the other robbery, a group of four to five people stole a cell phone, some cash and some earrings from a 33-year-old victim, Santini said.

After those robberies, the muggers confronted the Bailey brothers under a viaduct at 20 W. 63rd St., Santini said.

“The offenders, while brandishing a loaded handgun, began to rifle through the victim’s pockets as they said, ‘Give it up,’” Santini said.

The Bailey brothers resisted Johnson and the other alleged robbers, and “a brief struggle ensued,” Santini said. “One of the offenders fired the loaded handgun at Demario Bailey, striking him in the chest just above his heart.”

Demacio Bailey ran after hearing the gunshot, Santini said.

“After reaching the end of the viaduct, the 15-year-old victim realized that his brother wasn’t with him and immediately returned to the viaduct,” Santini said. “He found his twin brother lying face up mortally wounded from a gunshot to the upper chest.”

At one point during Monday’s hearing, Judge Brown asked Santini if Johnson was the actual shooter.

“At this time, no,” Santini said.

And in arguing for bail, Johnson’s attorney, Mike Clancy, said prosecutors have no evidence that Johnson wielded a gun during any of the robberies.

“He was not the shooter in this case,” Clancy said.

Santini listed Johnson’s criminal history, all juvenile matters, including 2014 convictions for criminal trespass, possession of cannabis and theft. He’s also currently on probation for an unlawful use of a weapon conviction stemming from a 2013 charge, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors say CTA and other surveillance cameras show Johnson and the other alleged robbers entering the viaduct just before the murder and leaving it shortly after.

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