Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Author/Byline: BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA ; Staff Reporter
When Kimberly Common said goodbye to her oldest son as he left their home Tuesday in the 7300 block of South Champlain, she never suspected history would repeat.
Her son, Devin Common, 27, was headed for the corner store two blocks away.
“He said he’d be right back,” the 45-year-old mother of four said.
The next thing she knew, a neighbor was banging at her door, telling her he had been killed a block away. He had been shot, along with two friends, his body lying on the sidewalk in the 7400 block of South Champlain in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.
Life had played out the same way on Oct. 13, 2011, the day her other son, Antonio Common, 23, left their home in the evening headed for the same store.
“Antonio had said, ‘I’ll be right back, Mama.’ A few hours later, I got the call that they’d found my son in the alley, shot 17 times. It happened again,” the mother said, her memory triggering a torrent of tears.
Police said her son was shot at 12:12 p.m. Tuesday; the two other victims were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.
Kimberly Common said her son was the father of five children, ages 1 to 9, who was attending a trade school for a career in HVAC technology.
Upon arriving at the scene, his girlfriend, Nikki Trice, mother of his two youngest children, fell to the ground wailing, unable to be comforted.
His sister, Jermaka Common, 26, stifled her own tears to comfort her mother.
“It’s not fair. It’s not fair,” the sister cried. “They took both my brothers.”
The mother said she had heard the motive was robbery, but police declined to comment.
“After Antonio was killed, I turned my life over to the Lord, went to church every Sunday, dragged my grandkids, just praying to God to save my family,” Kimberly Common said. “God, why is this happening to me again? To me again?”