By SAM CHARLES and MITCHELL ARMENTROUT
Chicago Sun-Times
Jerry Jacobs | Facebook
A man shot to death last week in the South Shore neighborhood has been identified as 37-year-old Jerry Jacobs, and authorities believe his death may have been the catalyst for a quadruple homicide the following day.
Jacobs was walking on the sidewalk at 11:13 p.m. March 29 in the 7900 block of South Phillips when four males got out of a dark-colored vehicle and shot at him, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Jacobs, who lived in the same neighborhood, suffered a gunshot wound to the right side of his body and took himself to South Shore Hospital, authorities said. He was later transferred to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:40 a.m. Thursday, March 31.
Jacobs’ son, 19-year-old Maurice Harris, was charged Tuesday with fatally shooting four people at Nadia Fish and Chicken at 75th and Coles on the day after his father was killed, police announced Wednesday. He was ordered held without bond.
Maurice Harris | Chicago Police Dept.
Brendan Deenihan, commander of Area Central detectives, said “a reasonable person would believe” the two shootings were related.
“I think a reasonable motive would be that his father got killed and subsequently he shoots and kills these four people,” Deenihan said. “Does he do that randomly? Only he can answer that question. I wouldn’t suspect he just picked four random people on the street. That wouldn’t make sense to me.”
The shooting of Harris was part of an ongoing conflict between factions of the Gangster Disciples and Black P Stones gangs, Deenihan said. Deenihan said it was not known if any of the four killed at Nadia were involved in Jacobs’ death.
The prosecutor also said a double homicide about 11 p.m. Thursday near 70th and South Shore Drive “may be related,” but did not go into specifics