Donald Huey called his grandmother last week from Los Angeles to tell her he’d found a lead on a new job and he planned to stay in the city permanently.
It seemed like big news at the time, said Jewel Perrian, Huey’s paternal grandmother. But it was nothing compared with the shock she suffered Sunday: A relative phoned her in Florida to tell her Huey had gone back home to South Holland and was now dead. The 25-year-old was one of three men killed in South Shore early Sunday when the driver of a silver sedan drove into a group of six men standing in the street outside Jeffery Pub, apparently intentionally, according to Chicago police.
“I just can’t understand how something like this could happen in Chicago. This is blatant evil,” Perrian said when reached by phone Monday.
Perrian said she remains unsure why her grandson chose to leave Los Angeles or when he made it back to Illinois. But that isn’t the question nagging at her most as she makes arrangements to return to the area she called home for most of her life.
“To harm those kids like this, I’m still in shock, it’s still fresh. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what kind of monster could do that — and on purpose,” she said. “Who could just calmly drive into a crowd of people and end their lives?”
Police are trying to answer the same questions as they investigate the attack, which has gained national attention in part because of several videos of the crash circulating online. The crime blog CWBChicago ran one of the graphic videos on its website, but other videos from different angles also have surfaced. One, which Perrian referenced, seems as if it may have been taken by the driver.
“I understand that that video is out there, and it’s pretty horrific,” said Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan during a Monday morning news conference. “You can look at it. It appears to be intentional just based upon what everybody’s seen.”
Hours after the 5 a.m. attack, authorities located the vehicle they believe was used in the hit-and-run, Deenihan said, adding no arrests had been made.
“You can’t charge a car with a crime, obviously,” he said, explaining the silver sedan with a dented hood and hole in the windshield was found just four blocks away from Jeffery Pub, 7041 S. Jeffery Blvd.
“We’re actually looking for some help with this one,” Deenihan continued, saying anyone with information should contact police.
When asked to discuss the videos and a possible social media post — there has been rampant discussion online referencing a Facebook Live post in which a person was laughing about the crime — Deenihan said: “I’m not going to comment on the social media.”
The other victims were identified as Devonta Vivetter, 27, of the 6100 block of South Carpenter Street in Chicago, who was pronounced dead at 5 a.m., and Jaylen Ausley, 23, address unknown, who was pronounced dead at 5:35 a.m., according to information released by the medical examiner’s office.
Friends and family of Ausley took to social media Monday to share their grief and demand for justice.
Curtis Henderson, 27, one of Ausley’s cousins, said the pair had a close bond since childhood.
“We always stayed connected and we were always talking or seeing each other,” Henderson said. “I’d been in contact a lot more since he graduated and moved back home and we were both here working with the youth.”
Henderson said Ausley had big aspirations for himself — including a goal to attend an Ivy League graduate school. But one of his biggest goals since graduating college, however was to positively affect the youth in his community.
“But unfortunately, Jaylen’s life was cut too short,” Henderson said. “Myself and the rest of the family just want to see the violence stop.”
Ausley was a South Side native and 2021 graduate of the University of Michigan, according to a Facebook post shared by his family. He worked at Gary Comer Youth Center, an organization that provides support in academic success, and college and career preparation.
“Jaylen was a light in any room and his infectious energy will be missed,” one post read. “He was making great strides as a leader in his community.”
Ausley was a 2017 graduate of Gary Comer College Prep high school in the Grand Crossing neighborhood, according to the high school alumni group.
“It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I share that our beloved Catamount Jaylen Ausley ’17 has passed away,” the post read. “In addition to being an alumnus, he was a beloved member of our staff having joined us as a culture specialist upon his graduation from University of Michigan in 2021.”
“He wanted nothing more than to be a solution to the problem that we’re seeing with the violence here,” Henderson said. “We are losing too many important people, we’re losing too much potential.”
So far, authorities are not considering the attack a hate crime because they don’t yet know the driver’s motive.
“It’s not being investigated as a hate crime at this time. We don’t have the evidence to support that somebody was trying to harm these individuals because of their race, religion, etc. at this time because we don’t have a suspect in custody and we don’t have any information that somebody stated that,” Deenihan said. “That can change once we get more witnesses and a suspect in. Everything can change based on those statements.”
Detectives have been in touch with employees of Jeffery Pub to try to piece together a timeline of events. Officials said it appears there was an argument inside the pub that spilled out onto the street, in what Deenihan called “an ongoing altercation at that point.”
“Then we can see this individual gets into a car and commits this horrific act,” he said.
Perrian said her “very nice, very kind, very respectful grandson,” who “never got into trouble or anything like that,” wasn’t involved in the fight.
“He was just standing around watching it happen. It appeared to me (the driver) sped up to hit them. The guy was parked on the side of the road and then turned his lights on and accelerated. I don’t think Don Don was targeted,” she said, using a nickname for her grandson. “I think (the driver) was just angry about the fight and everything and figured he would do some damage.”
Clarification: Jaylen Ausley’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.
Chicago Tribune’s Tatyana Turner, Paige Fry and Adriana Perez contributed.
