JOLIET, Ill. — A mother is devastated after she said two suspects “mutilated” her son at a Joliet playground.
At around 6 p.m. on May 31, officers were dispatched to the 400 block of South Joliet Street on the report of a person shot. It happened at the Warren Sharpe Playground.
Within two hours, 16-year-old Antoine Shropshire was pronounced dead at the scene.
“My son was in the house until 5:45 p.m. and then his friends called him to come out,” mother Tysha Hammond said. “They went to the park, you know being kids, talking to girls.”
Hammond said her son, who just finished his sophomore year at Joliet West High School, was initially shot in the head and then sustained around 25 gunshot wounds.
“He was hit 25 times. The shooters were shooting at the park — some kids there were as young as four,” Hammond said. “They had no regard for human life.”
On Saturday afternoon, Joliet police released surveillance footage and images asking the public for help identifying two people near the scene.
Both were wearing jeans with one wearing a red hoodie and the other a black hoodie.
When she heard the news, Hammond accidently broke her car door.
“I can’t process it, I just said ‘I’m on my way,'” she said. “They had him covered, the detectives were looking over him. They mutilated my son.”
Hammond said she will not stop pushing for justice until it is served.
“Anywhere he went, Antoine touched them,” Hammond said.
A GoFundMe has been issued to help with funeral expenses. Visitation is on Friday at St. John Missionary Baptist Church from 10 to 11 a.m. with his funeral to follow.