Charges filed in 2019 shooting death of Cahokia man

The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office Friday charged a Cahokia man in connection with the shooting death at the Samuel Gompers Housing Complex in East St. Louis last year.

Darron L. Chairs, 30, faces one count of first-degree murder in the death of Domonick White on Aug. 3, 2019.

Chairs was being held at the St. Clair County Jail on $1 million bond, according Illinois State Police, which investigated the shooting jointly with East St. Louis Police.

White, 34, of Belleville, was visiting a friend when police received the call at about 4:30 p.m. that shots had been fired at the Gompers Homes, 450 N. Sixth St. When officers arrived, they found White laying dead on the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to an article posted at bnd.com on Aug. 19 of last year.

Investigators did not provide any information about a possible motive for the killing.

Christina White, his mother, received a call from her daughter, who told her that her son was gone.

“I didn’t want to believe it, but when I got down there and saw my other daughter destroyed, I lost it,” White told the newspaper. “That was my baby boy. I gave birth to him. They took my only male child. They took him from his sisters, nieces, nephews … his entire family.”

She said her son was hard working and loved to play video games, listen to music and joke around with his family. She also said White was to be baptized the week following his death.

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 7:14 PM.