CHICAGO—In tears, with her head in her hands, 54-year-old Shirley Chambers weeps. After burying three of her children, she lost her fourth on Jan. 26 after he was shot dead while sitting in a parked car on the west side of Chicago.
Thirty-three year old Ronnie Chambers was the last of Shirley Chambers’ four children, who were all victims of Chicago gun violence.
“When I found out that he was shot, I was totally devastated. My heart just dropped,” Chambers told theGrio.
As a mother who raised four children in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects, she never dreamt she would outlive her kids, and after the deaths of the first three, hoped her fourth would outlive her.
“I’m just knowing that Ronnie’s going to grow up and be an old man. That was in my heart,” Chambers said of her son.
A local music producer and reformed gang member, Chambers’ son went to Chicago’s west side after attending a listening party for one of his artists.
Police said at around 2:15 a.m. on Jan. 26, they responded to a call of shots fired in the 1100 block of South Mozart Street. When they arrived on the scene, they found Ronnie Chambers sitting in a parked van with a gunshot wound to the head. According to police, a second man was shot in his arm and leg, and was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital for treatment.
Ronnie Chambers was pronounced dead on the scene, police said. He is part of an already advanced number of murders in Chicago in 2013. As of Jan. 30, police said Chicago has experienced 157 shootings and 42 homicides in 2013. In 2012, the city shamefully topped 500 murders for the first time in four years.
“Every day our young men and young women are getting gunned down,” Chambers said of Chicago’s violence issues. “I think it’s gotten out of control.”
Chambers lost her 18-year-old son Carlos to gun violence in 1995. In 2000, Chambers’ 23-year-old son Jerome and 15-year-old daughter LaToya were both shot to death outside of a Cabrini-Green housing facility just months apart.
Chambers said her son had his brushes with the law, but he was a good kid. Chicago police say Ronnie Chambers had a lengthy arrest record, but after seeing his three siblings die, Chambers said her son had begun to turn his life around for the better.
“He had started mentoring this young man,” Chambers said about her son. She was referring to Chicago aspiring rapper YK, short for Yung Killah, who Ronnie took under his wings. He’s from the same neighborhood as Ronnie Chambers, experiencing the same troubles he did at his age.
In December, Chambers’ son appeared on The Ricki Lake Show and shared his tumultuous past, and how he’s instilling a sense of hope and success into YK.
“I’m just trying to keep him on the right track,” Ronnie Chambers said in the appearance, as shown on the show’s YouTube channel. “He’s got unbelievable talent.”
In the same appearance, Ronnie Chambers said after his siblings died, he wanted to protect his mother and make her proud.
“I was so proud of him. I saw that he was doing some good things and I was really proud,” Chambers said she thought when she saw her son on television.
With a solemn face slowly rising into a smirk, Chambers said she will miss her son’s smile the most, along with his light-hearted comedic tone and seeing him encourage children.
“He’d always try to lead [children] in the right direction,” Chambers said. He would tell them, “They don’t have to be out there doing drugs, guns or whatever. You can go further in life doing the right thing. So that’s what he was trying to do,” Chambers recalled.
According to Chicago police, there are no suspects in custody for the death of Ronnie Chambers, and this is an ongoing investigation.
Renita D. Young is a Chicago-based multimedia journalist. Follow her on Twitter @RenitaDYoung.