Armani Floyd helped organize marches and food giveaways with his father, who became an anti-violence organizer after abandoning the gang life.
Ulysses Floyd Sr. said his son “had a good future” and was focused on keeping his grades up, honing his basketball skills and making a positive change. But on Friday night, Armani fell victim to the same violence he was working to prevent.
He was killed and eight other teenagers were wounded as shootings erupted during a so-called “teen takeover” in the Loop.
“To lose my son for what I do is tough, but I guess that’s God’s will,” Floyd Sr. said. “God got a better place for him and a better plan for him.”
A memorial gathering was held Monday evening near Gary Comer College Prep Middle School in Grand Crossing for Armani Floyd, who was shot and killed in the Loop during a teen takeover Friday night. Armani loved basketball and helped his father in his work preventing violence in the community.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
The shootings garnered national attention and renewed a thorny political debate over how to handle teen gatherings.
President Donald Trump decried what he called “crime and rioting” and again held himself up as the solution to the city’s intractable gun violence. Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters that the shootings “set us back as a city.”
On Monday, 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins said his plan to institute a “snap curfew” could have made a difference in preventing the sometimes chaotic teen gatherings. The measure was approved by the City Council in June but was vetoed by Johnson.
Chicago police investigate a shooting in which multiple people were injured Friday outside the Chicago Theatre. Members of the City Council plan to reintroduce a snap curfew measure similar to one vetoed by Mayor Brandon Johnson earlier this year.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
“We are looking to make some revisions to come up with an alternative curfew plan that would have been a useful tool Friday night to potentially have prevented the loss of life,” Hopkins told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Outreach ‘failed’ ahead of shooting
Seven teens were hurt about 9:50 p.m. in the first shooting, which occurred near the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St. The victims, boys and girls ranging in age from 13 to 17, mostly suffered leg wounds and were taken to hospitals in good or fair condition, authorities said.
Less than an hour later and five blocks away, officers found two more teens shot in the 100 block of South Dearborn Street. Among them was Armani, who died from multiple gunshot wounds at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The shootings happened shortly after crowds flocked to the city’s annual Christmas tree-lighting in Millennium Park.
Eleven kids and eight adults, ages 14 to 33, were arrested and charged with crimes, police said. Seven face felony gun charges, including a 16-year-old boy who was also charged with firing a weapon.
No one has been charged in the two shootings. Hopkins, chairman of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, said ballistic evidence is being processed at the federal Crime Gun Intelligence Center in Chicago.
He noted that city officials “had adequate notice” that Friday’s teen gathering posed a “viable threat.” He said the gathering spiraled out of control when officers tried to contain the crowd and were met with Mace, pepper spray and stun guns.
City officials use “targeted communication” to reach out to organizers and try to discourage attendees before there’s a “critical mass where violence is likely,” Hopkins said.
“It’s obvious that those tactics do not work 100% of the time,” he added. “And Friday night, unfortunately, was a night that they failed.”
Trinitee Gillard Pratt, 14, was shot in the hip Friday in one of two mass shootings Downtown. She was released from the hospital Sunday.
Trinitee Gillard Pratt, 14, was among those wounded in the mass shooting outside the Chicago Theatre, according to her aunt and guardian, Timikron Pratt. Trinitee had traveled Downtown for the tree-lighting ceremony.
“She thought she was gonna die,” Timikron Pratt said. “It was so much blood, and she was screaming for help, and everybody … ran and left her.”
Trinitee was released from Lurie Children’s Hospital Sunday, though she’s still a long way from returning to her Morgan Park High School basketball team. Despite being left with a limp and needing help getting out of bed, her aunt said she’s “doing wonderful.”
“She’s a sweet girl,” Timikron Pratt said. “She don’t give us no trouble, even being a teenager.”
A political fight
Hopkins and 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly are among the City Council members who plan to introduce a new curfew ordinance by Christmas. The previous proposal would have allowed Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling to declare a curfew with just 30 minutes’ notice.
The measure narrowly passed, with just one vote above a simple majority. Johnson then issued his first veto, which alderpersons failed to to override.
On Monday, a mayoral spokesperson said a snap curfew “would do nothing to fundamentally solve the problem of youth violence, and it would reinforce the cycles of overpolicing and mass incarceration that have not proven effective in sustainably driving down crime and violence.”
Another proposal announced Monday by 6th Ward Ald. William Hall would require social media platforms to remove posts promoting a teen gathering or face a potential $50,000 fine.
Hall, a Johnson ally, insisted that his plan doesn’t violate free speech rights and simply forces the social media giants to uphold their community guidelines.
“We’re being nosy because we care about our communities and the children that are online,” he said.
Trump used his own social media platform to criticize Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker, who he said were “refusing” to ask for federal assistance. But just last week, federal prosecutors announced charges against a man who was arrested by Chicago police and accused of setting a woman ablaze on a Blue Line train.
Trump’s post on his social media platform came less than two weeks after he touted a significant drop in crime and attributed it to Operation Midway Blitz, the two-month deportation campaign he ordered in the Chicago area.
“Massive crime and rioting in the Chicago Loop area,” Trump posted Saturday on Truth Social. “The people are chanting, BRING IN TRUMP!!!”
Armani Floyd attended programs at Project sWish for the last two years where he built community ties with peers and coaches, according to founder McKinley Nelson.
Remembering Armani
More than a dozen of Armani’s friends gathered at a South Side basketball court Monday night, placing electric candles near a photo of him.
Samsabeen Jones, 18, met him through the teen’s sister and admired Armani’s passion for basketball.
“It means a lot to be on the basketball court knowing that was his favorite sport,” Jones said. “It really means a lot [to us], and I know it means a lot to him, too.”
Floyd Sr. said his son excelled academically at Gary Comer College Prep Middle School and had been drawn to the sport at an early age.
Candles line a basketball court Monday night near photos of Armani Jones, 14, who was shot and killed in a teen takeover in the Loop Friday. “He could do more on the floor than the average 14-year-old,” McKinley Nelson of Project sWish said.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
McKinley Nelson said Armani stood out among his peers at Project sWish, an after-school program that uses basketball to prevent gun violence. “He could do more on the floor than the average 14-year-old,” Nelson said.
Others in the program were “hurting and grieving right now because they looked at Armani like a brother,” Nelson said.
He hopes that justice is ultimately served. At least $15,000 in reward money has been offered for information leading to an arrest in the shooting.
“I want [Armani’s] family to come to peace with whatever closure they may need,” Nelson said. “Being the person that I am to these young guys, I just want them to learn from one of their peers and just make better decisions moving forward.”