Chicago Activist Says He'll Walk Lavontay White Jr.'s Shooter To Police Station To Ensure Safety

CHICAGO, IL — If the person who fired the shot that killed a 2-year-old Lavontay White Jr. on Tuesday turns himself in to police, a Chicago activst says he and a local pastor will walk with that individual to the station to ensure his or her safety.

Community organizer Andrew Holmes made that pledge to while talking to the Chicago Tribune on Friday about a $10,500 reward he helped establish for information about the Valentine's Day shooting that also killed the boy's uncle and wounded the uncle's pregnant girlfriend in a West Side alley.

"I know you're scared. I know who you are. They know who you are," Holmes told the Tribune.

Lavontay, who had turned 2 only two weeks earlier, and his 26-year-old uncle, Lazarec Collins, were both shot in the head as they sat in a car Tuesday, Feb. 14, in the 2300 block of South Kenneth Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood. Collins' 20-year-old pregnant girlfriend, who streamed video footage of the shooting on Facebook Live, was wounded in the stomach as she fled the scene.

On Friday night, the woman, who was four months along, lost her unborn child, according to Fox 32 Chicago.

RELATED: Chicago Shooting That Killed 2-Year-Old Captured On Facebook Live

Richard Dent, a member of the 1985 Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears, was among the Chicago business and community leaders who helped fund the reward, which has a tip line set up at the Sweet Holy Spirit Church on the South Side, the report stated. The church's Bishop Larry Trotter is the pastor who agreed to accompany Holmes and any shooting suspect on a potential walk to a police station, the report added.

The reward tip line is 773-721-6178, and the church's staff will be answering calls for 24 hours from Friday afternoon until Saturday afternoon, the Tribune reports.

Wakhonda Tyus, Lavontay's aunt, also created a GoFundMe campaign Wednesday with a goal of raising $20,000 to pay for the burial of the toddler, who she described as "The latest Most Precious Innocent Undeserving Jewel, Future I Have a Dream writer, Entrepreneur, Inventor, Activist, Leader, guaranteed succeeder, paw patrol and cars loving, just started walking, talking victim of Chicago's violence."

In two days, the campaign earned more than $4,500, enough to cover funeral expenses, according to Tyus.

"I would like to thank everybody, I mean every individual and entity for there donations and support that has been shown for my family in our time of bereavement," she wrote in an update. "The arrangements have been made, the funeral has been paid for and my brother Lavontay White Sr. will be in attendance for the viewing of his son Lavontay White Jr."

How To Help

• Phone: Call the $10,500 reward tip line at 773-721-6178 with information about the shooting.
• Online: Go to the Lavontay White Jr. GoFundMe page to donate to the family.

More via the Chicago Tribune

The GoFundMe page for Lavontay White Jr. (screen shot via GoFundMe)

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
• Live Traffic and Transit Updates