Kenneth Jackson / Photo from Chicago Police
BY JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times
A man has been charged with the shooting death of a Simeon Career Academy sophomore and football player who was gunned down two miles from his Chatham home in April.
Kenneth K. Jackson, 31, is charged with first-degree murder, murder, and mob action, all felonies, in connection with the death of 16-year-old Michael Flournoy III, according to a statement from Chicago Police.
Flournoy, who lived in the 8000 block of South Evans Avenue, was shot just before 8 p.m. April 5 in the 1000 block of East 93rd Street and died at the scene, officials said.
Family, friends and neighbors all described Flournoy as an ambitious, soft-spoken kid with a good head on his shoulders who steered clear of drugs and gangs. He had an interview for a summer job at Navy Pier scheduled for just a few days after he was killed, according to his grandfather, Samuel Woods.
The day Flournoy died, Woods said, the teen was on his way to pick up chips at a store on 93rd when he got into a fight with some other boys.
“They jumped on him,” Woods said at the time. “Beat him up. And then they shot him in the face.”
Woods said he used to drive Flournoy to the North Side to look at buildings. The boy loved cars, thought about becoming a firefighter, but really wanted to be an architect, Woods said.
Flournoy also played defensive back and wide receiver on the sophomore football team at Simeon.
“He was a great kid, around the school always helping people out. He was a very soft spoken young man, you would have to tell him to speak up just to hear him talk. Just a good kid,” Simeon football coach Dante Culbreath said at the time of Flournoy’s death.
— Contributing: Jon Seidel, Michael O’Brien