Distressed Activist Gives Up To Police After Lake Shore Drive Shut Down For Over An Hour

CHICAGO, IL — A SWAT team peacefully ended an incident Sunday involving a South Side community activist who police said was armed and suicidal while he was sitting in a car across from Buckingham Fountain, according to reports. The incident forced authorities to shut down a stretch of Lake Shore Drive for more than an hour and a half while an officer negotiated with the man, the report added.

Police told the Chicago Tribune that calls came in at around 5:05 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, with reports concerning a man in a car parked in the 500 block of Lake Shore Drive, the report stated. Police also were contacted after the man began posting troubling updates and a disturbing live video feed of the incident on his Facebook page, the report added.

Traffic in both directions of Lake Shore Drive was blocked off between Balbo and Jackson drives while a police negotiator talked to the man, the report stated. At about 6:40 p.m., the man finally surrendered to officers, the report added.

Police told the Tribune that the man had a gun with him in the car, and he had threatened suicide.

According to two videos and online updates from community organizer Ja'Mal Green, as well as reports by Heavy and DNAinfo.com, the man in the car was Jedidiah Brown, a well-known South Shore activist who founded the Young Leaders Alliance and a one-time candidate for 5th Ward alderman.

Posts on Brown's Twitter account and Facebook page Sunday contain upsetting, distressful messages, including one that stated, "To my family.. Please forgive me! I love you!" Two Facebook videos he shot and streamed live leading up to and during the incident depict the standoff with police.

The caption on the first video reads, "Chicago i love you, im sorry." In the second video, a SWAT team negotiator can be heard trying to convince Brown that police only want to help him. At one point, the officer is heard telling Brown to take the gun out of his mouth.

In a video he posted after the incident ended, Green said Brown, 29, was distraught over "a nephew he saw as a son who [Brown] learned had committed suicide" Sunday. That news had pushed Brown to "his breaking point," Green added.

Brown referenced the suicide in a Facebook update published less than two hours before police began responding to calls concerning the activist:

"Today i was told the truth and my heart will never heal...

"God didnt take my son

"He committed suicide

"Its my f---in fault! I killed him caring about this dumb ass city... F--K CHICAGO! F--K THE CHURCH! F--K THIS LIFE..."

According to DNAinfo.com and Green, who was at the scene and taped the incident, Brown was taken to the hospital by ambulance after he surrendered to police.

"Jedidiah will be watched, and he will be OK," Green said. "He is not hurt, and we are praying for his recovery."

Friends and members of the community that Brown served as both an activist and pastor offered their support on his Facebook.

"I hope and pray that you are ok," wrote one commenter. "Such a positive person. Always caring for others. When you pull through this I am here if you need a friend. … You have so much to live for. You have been a blessing to so many people. So many people love you and look up to you. We never realize the affect we have on others. You are such an amazing man. You are strong, you love your people and you care. May GOD bless you and protect you from the demons inside of your head right now. Don't let them win. You fight!!"

As a community organizer, Brown has worked with the families of victims of Chicago's gun violence over the years. Brown and his activism received national attention last year when he rushed the stage during a campaign stop for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at the University of Illinois at Chicago, an event Trump was forced to cancel because of protesters.

Earlier this month, Brown pushed back at Trump's criticism of Chicago, and he questioned the veracity of a Cleveland pastor's claim during a White House listening session that city gang leaders wanted to sit down and meet with the president to try to curb Chicago's violence.

More via the Chicago Tribune and DNAinfo.com

UPDATED (1:52 a.m. Monday, Feb. 13)

photo via Shutterstock

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