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Chicago Family Pleads To Stop The Violence As They Mourn The Death Of Their High School Son

micheal flournoy

Family and friends expressed frustration and despair Sunday over the death of Michael Flournoy, a sophomore at Simeon High School with no arrest record, who was shot and killed Saturday night near where one relative said his cousin was shot and killed a few years ago.

“The people that stole his life had no reason,” the 16-year-old’s grandfather Samuel Woods said Sunday. “There’s no way I’m gonna stand here and say, ‘I’m OK. I don’t know how long it will be before I’m OK.’”

While recalling his grandson, Woods stood among mourners and onlookers in front of the red brick wall of St. Anthony’s Church in the 1000 block of East 93rd Street where Flournoy was shot Saturday night.

Friends and neighbors of the football player and wrestler hung around a memorial of balloons, stuffed animals and candles in the Burnside neighborhood. Some scrawled that they loved him on a poster board that pleaded in large, red letters: “Stop killing these kids!”

family mourns

Flournoy was visiting his cousins over the weekend, as he often did, Woods said. According to preliminary reports from a police source, he was on the street just before 8 p.m. when he got into an argument or fight with at least one occupant of a silver or gray car. Someone from the car then opened fire, shooting Flournoy in the head. He was pronounced dead minutes later at the scene. Police said he had no arrest record.

high school student killed

His grandmother, Sabrina Butler, said she believes that argument happened while Flournoy and his cousin were going to buy a snack before a movie and involved a man who didn’t want the pair talking to his daughter.

“He never made it to the store to get chips,” Butler said. “If he had said, ‘We’ll meet at the movies,’ he’d still be alive today.”

Michael Flournoy’s wrestling coach, Carnell Jones, told WGN-TV that Flournoy “was just a good kid.”

“He worked really hard and was just really focused on doing better, doing well,” Jones said. “He was always talking about his grades. It’s just shocking and really hard to swallow.”

Flournoy helped his mother run his house with three younger brothers at East 80th Street and South Evans Avenue, according to his aunt, Sheree Dixon.

“He took care of his brothers and sisters,” Dixon said. “He took care of his mom. He was his mom’s backbone.”

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Source: Chicago Tribune

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