💔 My Son Trusted People So Much… — Mother Of Marcus Chatman Speaks Out After He Was Sh0t And Kil-led In Chicago, Her Heartbreaking Words Leaving Everyone In Tears
Marcus Chatman at his eighth grade graduation in 2025. Chatman was shot and killed June 18 at around 11:30 p.m. on the 8000 block of South Carpenter in Auburn Gresham, police said. (Ahmani Hicks)
Ahmani Hicks said her 14-year-old son Marcus Chatman, who played for a Dolton area football team, always had a smile on his face or a joke to crack and could make a friend anywhere he went.
“He would take the shirt off his back, the shoes off his feet and give it to them,” she said. “He was so trusting because that’s what type of person he is. He loves. He loves, and he thinks everyone had that same love as him.”
Marcus was shot and killed at about 11:30 p.m. June 18 on the 8000 block of South Carpenter Street in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, police said. Hicks said she was planning his 15th birthday party and has now planned a private funeral for him Monday.
She said Marcus was the goofy person of their family who liked to dance and brought joy and excitement to the household. Every time he called, his family would ask to have him on speaker so they could hear his jokes and thoughts, she said.
She said Marcus’ football team, Midwest Hawks Youth Football, has surrounded her family with support, delivering groceries and spending time at their house as she has supported her three other sons, who have struggled to leave the house or attend football practice since the shooting.
In a social media post, the football league mentioned the “heartbreaking loss of one of our alumni,” calling the shooting a senseless act of violence. The post praised Hicks for her involvement over the years.
“She has supported not only her own children, but countless young athletes throughout the Midwest Hawks organization,” it read. “Her love, dedication, and willingness to serve have helped make our program what it is today.”
Hicks said she is waiting for police to catch her son’s shooter, and her 7-year-old keeps asking her for updates.
“Nothing will ever make me happy because my son is never coming back, but at least I can have some type of closure to know that these individuals are off the street and not doing this to someone else,” she said. “I’m waiting on some sort of justice for me and my three other boys.”
Hicks said Chicago police told her that video of the shooting shows Marcus walking out of an apartment building on South Carpenter with people she said he calls friends walking behind him. One of those alleged friends shot him twice in the back, which hit his lungs, and the shooter ran away down an alley, according to her description of the video. A few other people at the scene ran back into the apartment and left Marcus to die in an alley, she said.
She said one of those friends’ sisters called her three times that night and told Hicks that Marcus had been shot twice. Hicks tracked his location to University of Chicago Medicine, where doctors told her he was dead on arrival.
She said while she waited at the hospital, she logged into Marcus’ Instagram profile, where she found a group chat of his alleged friends, naming who had shot him and saying the shooter was “bogus” for doing this. Other people in the group chat said they witnessed him lying on the ground and discussed if they should check on him but said there were too many police on the scene.
Marcus Chatman at his eighth grade graduation in 2025 with his mom, Ahmani Hicks, and stepfather. (Ahmani Hicks)
Hicks provided the Southtown a few screenshots of the messages, and the chat shows other messages were deleted.
She said Marcus got in the wrong crowd, and she warned other parents of letting that happen.
“I would tell parents, so that they would never have to go through this, to love on your babies. … Trust yourself that you’re making the right decision for your kid no matter if they feel you’re the big bad wolf,” she said. “They don’t always know what’s wrong, and it’s up to us to guide them.”
Hicks said she had warned Marcus about the group of friends since last June, when they started throwing rocks at her window and yelling at him to come out of the house. She said she was unsure how Marcus met them but that they lived in project buildings near them.
She said the friends ranged in age from 16 to 20 and did not go to school, according to their social media profiles. She said the group had also been trying to convince Marcus to join Job Corps instead of school.
“It was just the wrong crowd,” she said. “He chose to listen to them over me, and he thought those were his friends, like he worshipped the ground that they walked on and saw no wrong in them.”
Hicks said her sons have had bad dreams and outbursts at night since Marcus’ death. She said her sons love football but have not wanted to return to practice.
Marcus Chatman poses with his family on his first day of eighth grade. He was fatally shot June 18 around 11:30 p.m. on the 8000 block of South Carpenter Street in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, police said. (Ahmani Hicks)
It’s hard, she said, to see constant reminders of his death in photos around the house or see posts about him on social media, or even be reminded of him in daily thoughts.
But she said the football team’s support has helped her sons tremendously and has reminded their family that they are loved. She said when that community sees the family is not answering their phone, they show up to the house to check on them and leave groceries on the front steps.
“It helps them to see that we are loved, that Marcus is loved,” she said.
Marcus Chatman, No. 44, and his Midwest Hawks football team. (Ahmani Hicks)
Hicks said she plans to hold a balloon release on June 26, Marcus’ birthday.
The shooting was one of several over the holiday weekend, during which eight people were killed and 39 were wounded since Thursday, police said.
A group of Chicago faith leaders and activists called Monday for the City Council and Mayor Brandon Johnson to establish a Department of Gun Violence Prevention. They argued the change would protect policies like funding for violence interruption workers and put more focus on reducing gun violence.
SOURCE: CHICAGO TRIBUNE
