Devante Warnsby / Photo from Twitter
BY MATT McCALL
Homicide Watch Chicago
The deacons at Christian Youth Missionary Baptist Church always liked when it was Devante Warnsby’s turn to read scripture, family said.
His mother, Ora Warnsby, said that of her 11 children, Devante Warnsby was the only one who never made trouble.
“He was the only one of the kids that got up and did something when I asked him,” she said. “He was a good child.”
Prosecutors claim Devante Warnsby was walking with a group in the 8400 block of South Essex Avenue when Joseph Hill pulled up and asked if anybody had marijuana about 11 a.m. April 8. When the group said they did not, Hill got out of the car and opened fire, prosecutors said.
Warnsby, 21, of the 8400 block of South Oglesby Avenue, was shot in the back of the head and died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn later that night, authorities said.
Ora Warnsby said her son had attended Perspectives Charter — Calumet, where he was on the football and track teams.
While at the high school, Devante Warnsby developed an interest in computers, his mother said. He learned to repair broken computers in a school workshop and had pursued a degree in computer science at University of Illinois before returning to Chicago two years later.
He was currently working at the deli counter at Mrs. Green’s Natural Market, family said.
“He was a smart boy, he never made any problems,” she said.