The incident happened Wednesday evening around 8:45 in a Chicago neighbourhood. Antonio Perkins was in front of a house with some friends and two of his three children. He and the others were not saying very much although voices of others including a woman and a child can be heard. Perkins was filmed drinking out of a bottle and laughing at a joke someone told. All of a sudden, Perkins looks to his right and says “Boy, stop playin’.” Then about 10 shots rang out. The phone is dropped to the ground while screams can be heard, especially by one woman who kept crying “Oh my God, oh my God.” Another man can be heard yelling for someone to call the police.
Although the picture went dark for awhile, someone obviously picked up the phone and filmed the alleged gunman driving away. The phone was then dropped on the blood-covered grass.
Perkins had been shot in the head and neck. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m.
Police are reviewing the video although they are pretty sure the man in the video was in fact Perkins. According to Chicago police, the shooting was gang-related. The Daily Mail reports police spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, saying Perkins had spent two years in jail for making heroin. He was on a “strategic subjects list” made up of people who are likely gang targets or members of criminal gangs.
But Perkins’ family and friends disagree he was a gang member. WGN reports Perkins’ father, Daniel Cole, saying his son was a good person and a lot of people loved him. His friends said he had recently been promoted in his job at McDonald’s and worked almost every day. Wednesday night was one of the rare times he went out. They denied he was a member of a gang.
The video was first posted by MediaTakeOut.com, a New York-based company. The company claims Perkins, who also went by the name of Cicero Yayo, was taking a video of himself on Facebook Live at the time of his death.
So far this year 278 people have been murdered in Chicago and Perkins’ brother was shot to death a few years ago. On the night Perkins died, 10 other people were shot in Chicago that day although all of them survived.
No arrests have been made and police do not yet have a suspect in the killing. As of yesterday, the video has been viewed over a million times.
