Man Who Called Himself God Before Killing Parents Gets Life
CHICAGO (STMW) - Bernard Simmons proclaimed himself "God" before slaughtering his mother and father, Cook County prosecutors said.
But, his sister Angela said what he really did was kill the "angels" who lovingly took him back into their Far South Side home after his eight-year prison stint.
"You took my protective shield as well as my angels on earth," Angela Simmons said Monday when Simmons pleaded guilty to the 2009 murders and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
"On behalf of the entire family, your tsunami was felt from the Atlantic all the way to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You took everyone's precious gems."
Simmons was irritated that a relative referred to him by his childhood nickname when he was picked up from the train station on Aug. 7, 2009, upon his release from a Georgia prison for an aggravated assault conviction, prosecutors said.
When he came to the home of Geraldine Simmons and the wheelchair-bound Bernard Smith in the 10000 block of South Eberhart Avenue that afternoon, his behavior grew more bizarre, authorities said.
Simmons. 30, allegedly lashed out at his mother when she said she'd rather not have him go outside even though a parole officer told him he didn't have to undergo electronic monitoring.
Simmons said "he was God" and that "no one could hurt him," prosecutors said.
When Geraldine Simmons called her son a "fool," it allegedly prompted him to say, "death to the non-believers. Mom and dad are non believers."
Later that day, when his father introduced him to his neighbors, Simmons started rapping a "violent and obscene" song, prosecutors said at the time of Simmons' arrest.
The next day, the landlord discovered the bodies of Smith and Geraldine Simmons.
Smith, 70, was stabbed in the head 20 times and shot in the hip. Smith's 63-year-old wife suffered a single knife wound to her chest.
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