Parents of 14-year-old gunned down make plea to public: 'I just want peace of mind'

FOX 32 NEWS - The parents of a 14-year-old boy shot and killed over the weekend made an emotional plea for the public's help in finding their son's killer.

Demarco Webster Jr. was helping his dad move out of his apartment in the 500 block of South Central Avenue in the Austin neighborhood Friday night and into the early morning hours on Saturday when shots rang out.

“So, about 1:18AM I just hear shots, and all I remember is seeing a lot of gunfire coming from off the side, so I ducked in my van door. And I'm thinking like, my son, I remember him being on the top of the van. I looked at the top and all I still hear is gunshots, so I look up there and I don't see him, I looked under my van and I didn't see him and at this time they're still shooting,” said Demarco Webster, Sr.

Webster said it happened as they were moving out the last mattress from his apartment, and just moments from driving out of the neighborhood for good when his life changed forever.   

“And I just started running and they still was shooting. And I went in the hallway and I seen my son on the floor, saying 'I gotta get up, I gotta get up'” Webster said.

“I just believe that my son got caught in the middle of a war or something that was going on,” said Akesha Hester, Demarco’s mother.

On Tuesday, his family joined together at the police station at Kedzie and Harrison to call for the public to help them out by turning in the shooters.

“This is a city that swallows kids. Innocent kids die all the time, shooter's still out there, so I just want someone, I just want a peace of mind,” Webster said.

Webster's parents say he was an honor student and had nothing to do with gangs. Police confirmed that the teen has had no run ins with them.

“He was very funny, he was a comedian, he loved to make people laugh. Demarco was the type of kid no one could cross his path without him impacting you,” Hester said.

Now they have to plan a funeral for a 14-year-old.

“I've had a lot of friends that I've had to comfort over the years because losing a child. My next door neighbor, a year ago, a child was murdered,” Hester said. “I just never thought it would be me in these shoes. I never thought that.”

Crisis responder Andrews Holmes says there is a $1000 reward for information that helps police catch whoever is responsible. Detectives are reviewing video from nearby speed cameras to see if it can help them identify the shooter or the vehicle that person was in.