The godson of one of Chicago’s most recognizable anti-violence crusaders was gunned down during what prosecutors say was a setup disguised as a marijuana sale, and an 18-year-old is now charged with his murder.
Christion Tucker, 21, was the godson of Pastor Corey Brooks, the South Side minister known nationally for his rooftop campaigns against gun violence. Around 6 p.m. on August 24, 2024, Tucker received a text from an acquaintance’s phone seeking to buy some pot in the 7200 block of South Washtenaw, prosecutors said.
Tucker drove to the location, arriving in his Nissan Rogue about an hour later.
Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara told Judge Luciano Panici, Jr. that the text arranging the deal came from a friend of Jermaine Gibson, who was 17 at the time. Surveillance cameras captured Gibson walking into an alley near the meeting point shortly before the murder. After Tucker parked, video allegedly showed Gibson approaching the driver’s side of the car and the recording captured the sound of gunfire.
Another camera showed Gibson moving to the passenger side of the SUV after the shooting and then fleeing into an alley with a backpack he didn’t have before, his face now covered by his hoodie, Pekara said.
Chicago police responding to a ShotSpotter alert found Tucker mortally wounded in the driver’s seat of his SUV. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives quickly tracked the gunman’s path on surveillance video and obtained a search warrant within hours for the house where he ran. Inside the home, police found Gibson and the friend whose phone had texted Tucker.
According to Pekara, CPD and Illinois State Police investigators who know Gibson from other cases immediately recognized him in the surveillance footage. He said DNA tests later showed Gibson’s genetic material was on the exterior of Tucker’s car.
Judge Panici ordered Gibson detained on a first-degree murder charge. The judge noted that Gibson already had two juvenile adjudications from 2022: one for illegal gun possession and another for possessing a stolen car, a case he picked up while the gun charge was still pending.
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