BY JESSICA KOSCIELNIAK AND EMILY BROSIOUS
Homicide Watch Chicago
Carnesha Fort had the “heart of a lion”, her longtime boyfriend, Darnell “LA” Tubbs, said.
Tubbs, 22, knew he found love in Carnesha Fort. Love that was supposed to last a lifetime.
Fort, 22, was fatally shot at her home in the 100 block of North Keeler Avenue in the West Garfield Park community about 10:45 p.m. Friday, authorities said.
Tubbs said Fort was home with her children when the gunman shot her in the bedroom.
“I think he brought that gun because he thought I was going to be there,” Tubbs said. “And him, as a man, to still pull a stunt and kill her … Only a coward would do this to a woman.”
Nobody has been charged in the murder, and Tubbs refuses go back to the apartment or allow Fort’s children back in their home.
For Mother’s Day, Tubbs made Fort matching hooded sweatshirts that proclaimed his feelings: “LA loves (heart) Nesha”
In the days after Fort’s murder, Tubbs’ wore his sweatshirt proudly.
“She was my motivation,” Tubbs said. “Seeing her, every day getting up and going to work, smiling, coming home no matter what. And still having time to be there for her kids, to help them with their homework — made me feel love.”
Fort worked for Hudson Concessions in a stockroom at O’Hare International Airport, but had dreams of going back to school to pursue a career as a pharmacist. Tubbs said Fort focused on advancing her career and doing right by her four young sons — ages 3, 5, 7 and 8.
“They know she’s gone, but I don’t think they fully understand,” Tubbs said.
He plans to help raise Fort’s children, even though he is not their biological father. He wants to be a positive influence in their lives and doesn’t want her children falling victim to the violence that took their mother’s life.
“Youth are so at risk here,” Tubbs said. “Ain’t no structure. Poverty, drugs, money, ambition, hate, jealousy, envy … It’s all about material things. It just consumes us.”
Carnesha Fort / Family photo
Tubbs said he knew people in the community who were fatally shot after being consumed by those material things — but he has never anyone as close to his heart.
“She loved me for me, you know? My flaws, everything … I never experienced love like this before in my life,” Tubbs said. “In the end, it was so quickly, so bittersweet.”
Fort had just celebrated her birthday May 31 with a party at Club M & M, and she had planned a trip to Puerto Rico later this year, Tubbs said.
Now he is planning the funeral for the woman he called a “goddess”
“The whole world just spun. It was like heaven and Earth moved,” he said.