• Funeral held for six-month-old shot in Chicago

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    By Lauren Petty, Christian Farr and Lisa Balde, NBCChicago.com

     Friends and family gathered Tuesday to remember a 6-month-old Chicago girl who was fatally shot last week while sitting on her father's lap.

    As Jonylah Watkins' family wept outside the church, her small coffin was placed among stuffed rows of animals and toys. The 11 a.m. funeral at New Beginnings Church was standing room only and crowds gathered outside waiting to get in.

    "Jonylah, affectionately known as 'Smooch,' was loved and adored by many," her funeral program reads. "Jonylah was the apple of her parents' eyes. Jonylah had an infectious smile that continually warmed her mother's heart."

    During the service, Jonylah's grandmother, Mary Young, read a poem dedicated to stopping violence. "Killing one another will no longer be tolerated by anyone," Young said.

    "Our young is in danger on the streets of this town," she said. "Take back your homes."

    Read original story, watch video on NBCChicago.com

    New Beginnings Pastor Corey Brooks said Jonylah is the youngest victim of gun violence he's ever buried. "It's the youngest child I've ever had to be shot and killed, murdered," he said. "That is totally different than anything I've ever experienced before and something I never, ever want to experience again."

    Jonylah was in the family van with her father, Jonathon Watkins, when someone approached and opened fire in the city's Woodlawn neighborhood, police said. That's contrary to initial reports given right after the shooting occurred.

    Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Monday he wanted to set the record straight about what happened. Last week police said Jonylah was shot five times while her father changed her diaper in the passenger seat.

    McCarthy said the little girl actually was on her dad's lap in the driver's seat when the gunman approached from the passenger side. McCarthy also said Jonylah was shot once, not the five times the family originally said.

    McCarthy said Jonathon Watkins, who has gang ties and 39 arrests, was clearly the intended target. He is cooperating with police, McCarthy said, but needs to offer more.

    "At this point, we think there's a lot more that he can help us with, but he is, in fact, cooperating with the investigation," he said. "We think that there's more that he can tell us."

    Still McCarthy said he has no doubt an arrest will be made in the tragic case. 

    An $11,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the shooter.

  • Shooting death of Chicago 6-month-old baby sparks march

    By Alexandria Fisher, NBCChicago.com

    Hundreds marched through the streets of Chicago on Saturday to protest the city’s violence that claimed 6-month-old baby Jonylah Watkins on March 12.


    The demonstration began at 10 a.m. Dulles Elementary School at 63rd and Calumet Streets and continued down to 65th and Maryland Streets.

    The group chanted throughout their walk, shouting, “Stop the violence,” and, “You save my baby, I’ll save your baby.”

    Police said father Jonathan Watkins told them he was changing the diaper on his 6-month-old daughter, Jonylah Watkins, on Monday when someone came up behind him and started shooting. Sources told NBC Chicago on Wednesday police had their doubts about that story.

    The girl suffered multiple injuries to her little body and died the morning after the shooting. A medical examiner source told NBC Chicago the damage to her thigh, shoulder, lung live and bowels may have been caused by a single bullet.

    Jonathan Watkins, police said, has ties to Chicago gang the Gangster Disciples and has an extensive criminal record. Police records show he's been arrested 39 times and was likely the shooter's intended target. Numerous weapons violations and an attempt to steal his car back from police after it was impounded are among the previous charges against the father.

    "He paid for his crime. He's fine with that. We're not trying to hide from that. We're not ducking and dodging from that," Pastor Corey Brooks, acting as the family's spokesman, said Thursday night. "But that's not the issue. The issue is a baby got shot and killed and we need everybody to stay on point and stay on focus on what happened."

    Jonylah Watkins' funeral has been scheduled for March 19. Brooks said basketball star Derrick Rose has offered to pay for the services.

    An $11,000 reward stands for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.

  • Pastor: Father of slain baby in Chicago to 'fully cooperate with police'

    By BJ Lutz, NBCChicago.com

    A 28-year-old father injured in a Monday shooting that also killed his daughter was released from the hospital Thursday.


    Jonathan Watkins stood silently as Pastor Corey Brooks, who has been acting as the family's spokesman, spoke to reporters outside the 5th District police station shortly after 9:30 p.m. Brooks said Watkins wished to "fully" cooperate with authorities and dispel misinformation that's been reported this week. He didn't offer specifics.

    "His wounds haven't even healed yet and he's in a lot of pain and so we're going to go in and whatever the police need to know that he may know, we want to make sure that he fully commits himself to letting them know that," said Brooks.

    Police said Jonathan Watkins told them he was changing the diaper on his 6-month-old daughter, Jonylah Watkins, on Monday when someone came up behind him and started shooting. Sources told NBC Chicago on Wednesday police had their doubts about that story.

    Read the original story at NBCChicago.com

    The girl suffered multiple injuries to her little body and died the morning after the shooting. A medical examiner source told NBC Chicago the damage to her thigh, shoulder, lung live and bowels may have been caused by a single bullet.

    Jonathan Watkins, police said, has ties to the Gangster Disciples and has an extensive criminal record. Police records show he's been arrested 39 times and was likely the shooter's intended target. Numerous weapons violations and an attempt to steal his car back from police after it was impounded are among the previous charges against the father.

    "He paid for his crime. He's fine with that. We're not trying to hide from that. We're not ducking and dodging from that," Brooks said Thursday night. "But that's not the issue. The issue is a baby got shot and killed and we need everybody to stay on point and stay on focus on what happened."

    Gang violence claims 6-month-old baby even as homicides fall in Chicago

    Jonylah Watkins' funeral has been scheduled for March 19. Brooks said basketball star Derrick Rose has offered to pay for the services.

    An $11,000 reward stands for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.

  • Gang violence claims 6-month-old baby even as homicides fall in Chicago

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    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Even in a city with more than 500 homicides a year, it's a crime that shocks the senses: a 6-month-old Chicago girl fatally shot five times while having her diaper changed in the family van.


    Shootings and murders are down dramatically from the same point last year, when Chicago had more homicides than any other metropolis in the country, but that statistic means nothing to those mourning Jonylah Watkins.

    The infant died Tuesday morning after several surgeries to repair injuries from five bullets that tore through her body the previous afternoon, family spokesman Pastor Corey Brooks said.

    "The city of Chicago should be outraged that a 6-month-old baby could be shot and killed in our city," Brooks told NBCChicago.com. "It's horrific."

    It appears the baby's father, who has an extensive criminal history, was the target, said Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, who added that the shooting has "very strong gang overtones."

    "This is another tragedy, because no child, certainly not an infant, should be a victim of gun violence," McCarthy said at a press conference.

    The father, Jonathan Watkins, 28, was shot in the buttocks and the face and was in stable condition Tuesday.

    "I was trying to help her,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times after learning his daughter had died. "They told me she didn’t make it."

    Gang violence has fueled the bloodshed in Chicago, which ended 2012 with 506 homicides on the books even as overall crime took a downturn.

    Family photo

    Jonylah Watkins

    It was a gang turf war that led to another notorious slaying, the shooting of 15-year-old high-school majorette Hadiya Pendleton just days after she performed during President Obama's inauguration weekend.

    The circumstances of Pendleton's death -- an honor student marked for death after she unwittingly set foot on gang territory -- made her a face of the national gun-control debate and sparked a local crime crackdown.

    Chicago cops say new tactics are yielding results: Murders are down 26 percent and shootings are down 19 percent in the first quarter of this year over the same period last year.

    "There's going to be good days, and there’s going to be bad days," McCarthy said after confirming the baby's death. "Today is obviously a bad day.”

    McCarthy said no witness to the shooting has come forward, echoing the frustration he expressed after Pendleton's murder, when cops pleaded for an end to the no-snitching credo of the streets.

    Brooks offered a $5,000 reward.

    "We're going to find who did this and make sure they are brought to justice...We're not going to be afraid. We're going to take back our neighborhood."

    Jonylah's grandmother, Mary Young, said the child had been touched by gun violence even before birth, when her mother was grazed in the knee by a bullet while pregnant.

    M. Spencer Green / AP

    A makeshift memorial is seen in Chicago, Tuesday at the site where 6-month-old girl Jonylah Watkins, and her father were shot.