Metro-east woman grieves for her slain grandson, whose mother also was lost to gun violence

Emogene McDaniel lost her daughter to gun violence more than 14 years ago. She is crushed by grief again this week.

Her grandson, 17-year-old Jaimarcus McDaniel, was found shot to death in a field in Jennings, Missouri, on Tuesday. Years ago, her daughter Jaimaca, Jaimarcus’ mother, and his father, were killed by guns.

Emogene McDaniel, of East St. Louis, has raised Jaimarcus and his two brothers since they were little boys after the death of their mother. She’s worked hard to protect them. As teens, she said, the youngsters have said they were now big boys and would be fine, but she remained protective.

“I told them there was too much going on in the streets, and I did not want anything to happen to them,” McDaniel said.

She added: “I didn’t let them go anywhere. I have had them since they were little … They never went anywhere ,” McDaniel said.

On Friday, Jan. 5, Jaimarcus left home with some friends and never came back.

One of Jaimarcus’ brothers woke his grandmother to tell her Jaimarcus had left with some friends and was not back. She started calling his phone.

“It kept going straight to the voicemail. I got an uneasy feeling. He always answered his phone,” she said.

She said Jaimarcus was always home by Sunday afternoon so he could be ready for school the next day.

“He would never stay away,” she said. “I would tell him I would pick him up and he would say ‘OK, Granny. I love you.’ He always said ‘Granny, I love you.’

“When he didn’t answer the phone all day Friday, and Saturday came and it was still ringing and going to voicemail, I called his godfather. He knew it wasn’t like him. Both of us knew something was not right.”

McDaniel filed a missing persons report with the East St. Louis Police Department. “They had tracked his phone until it cut off,” she said.

McDaniel believes Jaimarcus was killed in East St. Louis, and his body was taken to the field in Jennings, outside of St. Louis. She said the teen was not familiar with the St. Louis County community.

“He doesn’t even know his way around in Belleville or Cahokia,” McDaniel said.

Illinois State Police are investigating the slaying of Jaimarcus. Asked whether any arrests have been made, the agency stated in a news release that the case is under active investigation and no further information is being released at this time.

The loss of Jaimarcus’ parents

Jaimarcus’ mother, Jaimaca McDaniel and two other women were shot to death in November 2009 as they sat in a parked car at a gas station in East St. Louis, according to a BND article. Jaimarcus and other children in the car were unharmed. A suspect was arrested and later convicted in the slayings.

Jaimarcus also lost his father in a shooting in 2009. He was with his father when he was killed but was not physically injured, his grandmother said. Details of the shooting were unavailable.

Jaimarcus was just a young boy when all of this happened.

“He was really messed up from this. He had a bad temper after this,” Emogene McDaniel said.

McDaniel raised Jaimarcus and his brothers after their parents’ deaths.

She said Jaimarcus was a good person and stayed out of trouble. She helped make sure of that.

McDaniel said she always knew her grandsons’ whereabouts.

Hanging out in the streets at all times of the day and night is something that McDaniel said she knows is not healthy. That is why she has worked so hard to keep her grandchildren away from that way of living.

Their futures, she said, were not in a jail cell or as a gun violence death statistic.

Jaimarcus’ death hits hard.

“This is killing me,” McDaniel’s told a BND reporter. ”He was taken from us for no reason. He was a very good person.

“I really miss my grandson. He was outgoing and funny. I have no idea why someone would kill him. He didn’t do nothing to nobody. He was not into anything bad. He was always at home.”

When Jaimarcus turned 17, he asked his grandmother if she would she start letting him go places. “He told me he would call me and let me know where he was. I started letting him go a few places,” she said.

Jaimarcus was a student at JTC Academy in Cahokia Heights. McDaniel was determined to see him graduate.

“Now, I won’t see him graduate. This is a very sad time for me,” she said.

Jaimarcus was a worker in the Village of Washington Park’s summer youth program.

Mayor Leonard Moore said he was a well-mannered, outstanding human being. The mayor said Jaimarcus was one of the hardest working people in the summer program.

“He took pride in himself and his job. He was looking forward to coming back to work in the village’s summer youth work program,” the mayor said. “This is such a tragedy. I pray for the family. I know they are hurting. I also pray that police are able to make a swift arrest to give the family some closure.”

Moore said he is praying for the family and for the shooter to be caught swiftly so the family can get justice.

“This makes no sense. Guns. Guns. Guns. Everyday somebody dies because someone uses a gun and shoots someone. I am so tired of all of these shootings,” Moore said.

Debbie Moore, village clerk for Washington Park, met Jaimarcus through the Village’s Summer youth program.

“He was very respectful, outgoing, and he loved his job here in the street department,” Moore said. “I told him he was going to stay in school and graduate and he agreed. He was looking forward to his graduation day.

“He’s gone now. This is very sad to the Washington Park family . ... And, he loved his granny. That young man really loved that lady,” Moore said.

McDaniel said she longs to hear Jaimarcus say “I love you, granny” again, as he did so often. She is asking the community to pray for justice for Jaimarcus and the family.

She has wanted to leave East St. Louis for a long time, but has not been able to afford it. But somehow or another, she said she plans to move.

“I am trying to make it out of East St. Louis with my kids. I am trying to make a better life for them,” she said. “ It is time to get out of East St. Louis.

“My grandson wanted to move too. He told me when he turned 18 we were going to move. I lost my baby here. I lost my daughter here. I am not going to lose all of my kids here.”