$4K reward offered for information leading to the killer of Janari Ricks
CHICAGO - A $4,000 reward is being offered as police continue to search for the gunman responsible for ending the life of a Chicago boy.
Janari Ricks was just 9 years old, but in the former Cabrini Green neighborhood that he called home, his name meant a lot to a lot of people.
“The last few weeks that’s all I’ve been seeing is the little kids crying about their friends, their cousin their relative, little small children just crying,” said Andrew Holmes, community activist.
Police say Ricks was in the parking lot Friday evening in the 900 block of North Cambridge close to his home when someone on foot opened fire. Police say the boy was not the intended target.
Community mourns for 9-year-old boy shot dead in Chicago
Janari Ricks, 9, was supposed to be in fourth grade this fall. He loved to play basketball. But all that ended on Friday night in Chicago, when someone opened fire and he was killed. At least 14 children have been shot in Chicago in the past six weeks.
The murder of Janari Ricks falls on the last day of a month that started horribly with the shooting deaths of a 7-year-old and a 14-year-old.
“This is traumatizing them even when school’s starting every day, they may not get sleep just thinking about their loved one, their little friend, their homie, their buddy. Someone took his life,” said Holmes.
Ricks was an honor roll student at Salazar Elementary with a passion for sports. He loved to play basketball and dreamed of playing for the NBA. Now the Andrew Holmes Foundation, along with Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison have posted a $4-thousand reward in the case.
‘You know it’s not about how much money we can put up. His life is worth more than any brown penny that we can put up. We just need this gentleman turn yourself in,” said Holmes.