CHICAGO — Two brothers were charged this week with shooting their ex-stepfather’s sisters as friends and family members gathered to celebrate a girl’s prom earlier this year.
Davion and Raequan Seaberry, both of Chicago, were ordered held without bail during separate court hearings this week. They are each charged with one count of aggravated battery by discharging a firearm.
Davion Seaberry was on bail for a pending felony charge of manufacture-delivery of fentanyl at the time of the shootings. He’s the 16th person accused of shooting, killing, or trying to shoot or kill someone in Chicago this year while awaiting trial for a felony. The cases involve at least 23 victims, eight of whom died.
“To think that when family members are gathering to celebrate a young one’s prom and graduation … and then somehow people start pulling guns out and shooting folks or shooting at folks,” Judge David Kelly reflected during Davion Seaberry’s bail hearing.
This story is made possible by contributions to the Cook County Courtroom Transparency Fund.
During Davion Seaberry’s bail hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney John Kyle said the brothers went to a home in the 3800 block of South Indiana on the morning of April 28 to celebrate prom plans for their ex-stepfather’s daughter. Other family members were at the party, including children as young as 12 weeks old.
At some point, Davion began yelling at a woman at the party and then threatened to kill his ex-stepfather when he intervened, Kyle said. Davion allegedly slapped the stepfather’s 32-year-old daughter in the face, pulled a gun from his waistband, and pointed it at the woman.
The stepfather, a licensed concealed carry holder, pulled out his own firearm.
Raequan Seaberry and other men rushed the stepfather and grabbed his arm to keep him from using the weapon, Kyle continued.
While they were struggling with the stepfather, Davion shot the 32-year-old woman in the thigh and started firing toward others, according to Kyle. He said family members scrambled to take cover as the stepfather exchanged gunfire with both Seaberry brothers. A man who was with the brothers pulled out a rifle and began shooting at the stepfather, too. That man has not been found.
Kyle said Raequan Seaberry saw the stepfather’s other daughter, 39, hiding near a parked car and shot her in the leg when she ran for safety. Her thigh bone shattered. Surgeons had to implant a permanent rod to take its place.
The older daughter managed to record a short video on her phone that showed both brothers shooting at her, Kyle said, according to a transcript of the bail hearing.
Earlier this month, Davion Seaberry was charged with vehicular invasion and possessing a stolen motor vehicle. He has been in jail since then.
Daniel Carlomany represented Davion Seaberry during the hearing.
“It’s unclear like exactly the chain of events who shot first. Who pulled the gun first. Who started pointing the weapon first,” Carlomany argued, according to the transcript. “It sounds like the stepfather was shooting a lot of rounds.”
Self-defense is a possible explanation for the shootings, he said.
Judge Kelly acknowledged Carlomany’s “strong arguments,” but he was not persuaded to give Davion Seaberry an opportunity to bail out.
Kelly called the allegations that men engaged in a shootout at a family celebration “highly offensive and highly appalling.”
The “not horrible” series
This report continues our coverage of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others while on bond for a pending felony case. CWBChicago began our series of reports in November 2019 after Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans publicly stated, “We haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the court’s bond reform initiative.
The actual number of murders and shootings committed by people on felony bail is undoubtedly much higher than the numbers seen here. Since 2017, CPD has brought charges in less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, according to the city’s data.
Previous reporting
#6: Man killed 1, tried to kill another while on felony bail, prosecutors say (April 29, 2023)
#15: Hitman killed target while on bail for trying to disarm a cop, prosecutors say (July 22, 2023)