Boy killed in triple slaying remembered as fun-loving 'jokester'; police say shooters were possibly as young as 14

Amere P. Deese was still grieving the loss of his mother, who died two years ago from cirrhosis of the liver, his grandparents said.

The 14-year-old’s family now grieves for him.

The teen was one of three people killed in a mass shooting that also left a 16-year-old boy wounded Sunday night in the Chatham neighborhood.

“My heart is just torn into pieces,” Cynthia Jones, Amere’s grandmother, told the Chicago Sun-Times in an interview Monday. “He was doing so well as far as getting himself together, and I was just starting to see him kind of blossom.”

According to police, two attackers possibly as young as 14 burst into a home in the 8000 block of South Vincennes Avenue. After a brief argument, they opened fire, killing Amere, Ladeverett West-Ringgold, 20, and an unnamed 36-year-old man. One attacker then sprinted out the front door and the other out the back, police said.

Police have not released a motive in the shooting. A police source said it appears the shooters knew some or all of the victims, and at least some of them had spent time together throughout the day.

Amere struggled after the death of his mom about two years ago, according to his grandparents. He ate less, slept less and skipped school.

“There was a period of time where he was out here in the streets and whatnot, but we came in,” said Jody Roberts, Amere’s grandfather.

As time passed, Amere set his mind on becoming a professional basketball player. His favorite player was Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant, and he loved his Nike Dunk shoes.

Provided

“When his mom passed, I guess he kind of felt like he didn’t have anything,” Roberts said. “I would drop little jewels on him as far as, ‘What do you wanna do with your life?’”

Amere was scared of the violence in the South Shore neighborhood where he lived with his grandparents and five siblings and looked forward to moving elsewhere.

He was preparing to graduate from eighth grade from the O’Keeffe School of Excellence in the spring and was about to go on a college tour in March.

His grandparents described him as tall with black curly hair and said he was funny and could “fool people into thinking he was tough when he was actually a softy clown.”

“He recently started to come into himself and start to understand who he was and the direction he wanted to go in,” Jones said.

Said Roberts: “He was a jokester. He loved fun.”

The attack unfolded as Amere and one of his sisters were at a family friend’s house, where West-Ringgold’s 48-year-old mom was in a first-floor bedroom of the home getting two of her kids ready for school the next day, according to a police report obtained by the Sun-Times.

Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times

West-Ringgold’s mother told police she heard gunshots and assumed it was her son playing “Call of Duty,” but when she opened the door to check, she saw someone with a gun sprinting out the front door, the report said.

According to the report, she kicked the door shut behind the armed person, realizing her 20-year-old son — West-Ringgold — had had friends over against her wishes because it was a school night.

Additionally, she told police that earlier in the evening, West-Ringgold had gone out to play basketball and when he got back home, he must have left the door unlocked, because there was “no sign of forced entry,’’ the report said.

In an upstairs room near the front of the house, police found Amere, who was shot in the back, and West-Ringgold, who was shot in the abdomen. The 36-year-old victim, who as of Monday evening had not been identified, was found with a gunshot wound to the chest in an upstairs bedroom, while the 16-year-old was found sitting on a living room couch downstairs, with a gunshot wound to the left thigh, the report said.

According to the report, police learned the attackers may be “about 14,” but no one was in custody.

“Help us find these shooters,” Ald. William Hall (6th) told reporters at a news conference Sunday night at the scene of the shooting. “Do not allow any killer to sleep on any couch, any bed. Do it for the mother that’s crying right now.”

Hours earlier on Sunday in Rogers Park, two people opened fire in a public park, killing a 19-year-old woman and injuring three other people.

Contributing: Tom Schuba