St. Sabina Offers Reward For Information On Gresham Murder
UPDATED: 6:06 p.m.
(CBS) --St. Sabina's Church is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who murdered a 26-year-old Auburn-Gresham man whose brother works for the parish as a community peacemaker.
St. Sabina senior pastor Rev. Michael Pfleger is no stranger to the violence in the south side neighborhood, and employs Brandon Jackson and three other men as community peacemakers -- people whose specific job on a daily basis is to diffuse tensions between rival gang factions.
Saturday, Jackson stood next to Pfleger outside St. Sabina's and three blocks away at the scene of the Friday night murder, in front of 7949 S. Aberdeen St., as they and 100 other people offered prayers and demanded action.
Anger mixed with tears as Pfleger ridiculed those who take issue with filmmaker Spike Lee's decision to shoot a feature film entitled "Chiraq," a contraction of Chicago and Iraq.
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"People get mad about a title, Chiraq? People should be mad about the d----ed murder and the shooting going on," he said. "This is madness."
The parents of two other young murder victims joined in the chorus, telling gang members to "put the guns down" and "save precious lives." They also endorsed Pfleger's call for an end to "the code of silence," both on the police department and in shooting and murder investigations.
"We want people to come out and speak and talk," Fr. Pfleger said. "Open your mouths. We've got to break the code of silence. There is a code of silence, not just in this community, in the country. There was a code of silence of police officers in Baltimore and there is a code of silence on Aberdeen and on Carpenter and all over Chicago. There is a code of silence with the police and there is a code of silence on the street."
Police called to the scene at 10 p.m. Friday found Pridgeon dead on the sidewalk, shot in the chest. After the vigil Saturday, many of those who attended handed out flyers announcing the reward to neighborhood businesses and residents, hoping to find information leading to the killer.
No one is in custody in connection with the murder.
