Lasiah Palmer was one of the few teenagers in his West Side neighborhood, his family ventures, who still had a curfew. The 15-year-old’s loved ones worked hard to ensure that he was safe, that he stayed far away from street violence.
So Tuesday night, he’d been at home, enjoying the summer air from his back porch.
“That should not have been a problem,” cousin Billeka Palmer said a day after the teen was found fatally wounded at his Austin home. “That should have been a luxury he was awarded in his own home.”
Known as “Spyda” by his family and friends, Lasiah Palmer was shot and killed early Wednesday morning while on a third-floor patio. He was found bleeding and unconscious.
Shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, officers responded to a call of someone shot in the 4600 block of West Jackson Boulevard. Lasiah Palmer was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the top of his head, according to a police report obtained by the Tribune.
He was taken by paramedics to Stroger Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The Cook County medical examiner’s office, which had not officially released the teen’s identity as of Thursday afternoon, ruled his death a homicide.
Initial investigation showed that Lasiah Palmer had come home with two friends after swimming at a nearby pool, according to the police report. He came in and showered, then, police believe, watched TV in his mother’s bedroom, the report said.
His mother came home shortly before 1 a.m. and found her son bleeding on the porch. Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang and commotion one to two hours before Lasiah Palmer was found, per the report.
Lasiah Palmer was quiet, his cousin said. He was introverted — didn’t like big crowds — but loved to be around his mom and younger brother, Billeka Palmer said. He’d kept to himself, but when he was comfortable, liked to joke around. He loved sports and playing games, and he was excited about entering high school soon.
Palmer was a rising ninth grader at Rowe-Clark Math and Science Academy, set to begin next month, according to a Noble Schools spokesperson.
The last time Billeka Palmer saw her cousin was two months ago, for Mother’s Day when the family had gathered for the holiday.
Billeka Palmer said Lasiah’s mom, her first cousin, did everything she could to protect her sons. The Austin community leads the city in homicides, with 18 as of Saturday.
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“She did everything correctly,” Billeka Palmer said. The family would often have open conversations about “what the world looked like for young Black men.”
Palmer’s mother declined to comment.
His mom “worked so hard to make sure that … they had no part in that street culture, that they’re not a statistic,” Billeka Palmer said. She was devastated when she heard what had happened.
“It’s extremely shocking when a different type of lifestyle penetrates into your own,” she said.
“To know (Lasiah),” Billeka Palmer went on, “is to be faced with the fact that Black children, Black boys are indeed children. To know him is to be reminded of the innocence that our children do carry, regardless of what the culture and the media says about them.”
Palmer’s family has started a GoFundMe to offset funeral and memorial expenses. So far, the family has raised more than $3,400.
“Lasiah was more than a name,” Diamond Dortch, Palmer’s cousin, wrote on the GoFundMe. “He was a loving son, grandson, nephew, cousin, and friend whose smile, energy, and presence touched everyone who knew him. His life was taken far too soon, leaving behind a family and community struggling to make sense of such a heartbreaking loss.”
No updated information about the shooting was immediately available as Harrison Area (Area 4) detectives continued their investigation.
Tribune reporter Caroline Kubzansky contributed to this report.
