Father of man charged in South Shore deaths was killed day before

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - The father of the man accused of fatally shooting four people in South Shore last week was himself shot to death the day before, police said.

Maurice Harris, 19, was ordered held without bond Wednesday after he was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of four people at Nadia Fish and Chicken at 75th and Coles on March 30, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Brendan Deenihan, commander of Area Central detectives, said Harris’ father, Jerry Jacobs, was fatally shot the day before, at 7909 S. Phillips.

Jacobs, 37, was walking on the sidewalk about 11:15 p.m. when four males got out of a dark-colored van and shot him, police said at the time.

Deenihan 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.”

Harris has not given a confession and was arrested Tuesday near 127th and Western, said Deenihan, who added that several eyewitnesses told police Harris was the only shooter.

The shooting was part of an ongoing conflict between factions of the Gangster Disciples and Black P Stones gangs, Deenihan said. Prosecutors said Wednesday that Harris is a documented member of the No Limit faction of the Black P Stones.

Deenihan said it was not known if any of the four killed at Nadia were involved in Jacobs’ death. Jacobs, he added, had been arrested 47 times, including twice in murder cases.

The quadruple homicide — the first in Chicago in 2017 — occurred on a particularly violent day in South Shore, when seven people were fatally shot within a mile of each other in a 12-hour span.

About 3:30 p.m., four men were fatally shot at the restaurant, two inside and two outside. They were identified as: Emmanuel C. Stokes, 28; Edwin Davis, 32; and brothers Dillon Jackson, 20, and Raheem Jackson, 19.

The Jackson brothers had gone to Nadia to visit their mother, who has worked at the restaurant for eight years, according to their grandmother, Georgia Jackson, who also said her 16-year-old grandson was fatally shot at an Englewood Church’s Chicken in 2011.

Assistant State’s Attorney Jaime Santini said Wednesday that witnesses saw Harris follow Stokes and Davis into the restaurant with a semi-automatic handgun. After gunning down the two men inside the restaurant, Harris ran out of the restaurant. Witnesses then heard more gunshots from outside.

Defense lawyer Ian Barney said that there was no video and that he expected to present witnesses that could prove Harris was with them at the time of the murders.

“There is perhaps more to this story than has been told,” said Barney, who added that Jacobs’ funeral was scheduled for later this week.

Judge Adam Bourgeois ordered Harris held without bond, noting that the 19-year-old Harris had notched 29 juvenile arrests.

Just before noon on March 30, 26-year-old Patrice L. Calvin — who was four months pregnant — was found fatally shot in the head in the 7500 block of South Luella, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

About 11 p.m., a 27-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were shot to death as they were traveling in a van near 70th and South Shore Drive. A black Jeep pulled alongside them and someone inside the Jeep opened fire, police said.

Deenihan said the double homicide and quadruple homicide “may be related,” but there was no indication that Calvin’s death was connected to the other two shootings that day.