Rip Aaren Gwinn

I wish we had more time and it sucks that with my sister being with your brother we never really talked much. I was really bummed when I found out it was you and I just wanna say you're going to be missed. Even though I didn't know you as well as I should have I still shed a tear for you. Love u. Might I add that this is insanely stupid I can't believe they did this to you.



'The cops were on each side'
Witness says cousin not warned before police started shooting

NORTH CHICAGO -- Why was Aaren Gwinn shot to death by police Tuesday?

That was the question among angry bystanders and witnesses in the 1400 block of Jackson Street.

Gloria Gibson, the cousin of Aaren Gwinn (inset), who was killed by North Chicago Police reacts to the shooting Tuesday afternoon.
(Josh Peckler/Special to the News-Sun)


Gwinn, 21, was a passenger in a silver 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix headed north on Jackson at about 1:53 p.m. when two unmarked police vehicles pulled the car over at 15th Street. The car was driven by Demetrius Gibson, according to Gloria "Precious" Gibson, his sister, who said she was driving directly in front of her brother and Gwinn, her first cousin, and saw what happened.

"The cops were on each side," Gibson sobbed at the scene. "Aaren was in the passenger seat, but after they made Demetrius get out, Aaren slid over to the driver's seat and that's when they shot him."

Gibson and others who claim to have witnessed the shooting say police pumped seven or eight bullets into Gwinn at close range.

"They had their guns pointed inside the car," Gibson said. "They shot him, and then they rammed him. They didn't even yell a warning."

Josephine "Josie" Gwinn, of Waukegan, sat crying in front of the small brick ranch just south of 14th Street where Demetrius Gibson, Gwinn, and a third passenger, Steven Bell, 26, had been heading.

"They did this on purpose, I know they did," Gwinn said. "He's been running from the police since he was 2 years old. He was afraid of them."

Mrs. Gwinn said that her son -- the youngest of her six children and the father of 1-year-old Aareriana and a newborn -- had recently been released from jail.

"He was always respectful to me," she said.

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Gwinn served time for drug and battery convictions but was paroled last year.

"He was trying to turn his life around and do the right thing," said the Aaren's sister, LaAngel Gwinn. "He was trying to take care of his baby."

Gibson and Bell had intended to pick up a truck parked in the driveway of Gibson's parents home, in the same block where the shooting occurred. Willie Gibson said his son used the truck for the collection of scrap metal. Gibson and other relatives said Demetrius, who has also served time, was frequently stopped by police.

"He knows to cooperate," Gibson said.

"Why didn't they tell everybody to get out of the car?" an uncle asked.

Gloria Gibson, Demetrius Gibson's mother and the victim's aunt, said she ran to the car immediately after the shooting, but police tried to push her back. She said Gwinn's lifeless body sat collapsed against the driver's seat, his hand on the steering wheel.

"They filled him up full of holes," she said. "That's why they didn't want to let us see him."

Witnesses claim none of the men were carrying weapons.

Police cordoned off Jackson Street between 14th and 15th streets. The Lake County Major Crime Task Force was called in, and officers from that group were canvassing the neighborhood Tuesday in search of more witnesses.

North Chicago Police Sgt. Sal Cecala said at the scene that detectives directly involved in the shooting were meeting with Police Chief Mike Newsome late Tuesday afternoon. The department had not released information at press time.

"We have an investigation going," Cecala said. "We have to do our job first. Then we can answer questions. There's very little to say right now.

"My condolences go to this family," he added.

Neighbors and passersby continued to ring the scene at 5 p.m. Some made angry comments.

"They were intending to kill that child," one woman said.

Gwinn, who would have turned 22 on July 30, was pronounced dead at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan.

Lake County Coroner Richard Keller told the News-Sun Wednesday morning that Gwinn was shot 'a few' times. He disagreed with witness reports that Gwinn was shot seven or eight times but would not reveal the exact number because of the ongoing police investigation. Results of toxicology tests will be available this afternoon.

♥ I feel you in my heart, and I don't even know you {: 10:08 AM