Two more charged in death of East St. Louis football star, but none for murder
Two more people have been charged in connection with the death of a budding young football star at a Venice graduation party in 2019.
The arrests of Shuntez R. Fair, 22, and Antonio Whitehead, 23, bring to six the number of suspects charged in the shooting death of Jaylon McKenzie, who was 14 years old and had just graduated from middle school when he was hit by a bullet fired blindly into a crowd of people.
A 15-year-old girl also was hit, police said at the time, but her name and condition have never been made public.
The Madison County State’s Attorney’s office issued the charges against Fair and Whitehead on April 28, but kept them under seal until recently, when the two were taken into custody.
The pair are charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm, reckless discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Fair is being held at the Madison County Jail on $100,000 bail. Whitehead was released after posting bond.
Among the four others facing charges is Jaylen Straten, now 21, McKenzie’s first cousin.
Thus far, no one has been charged with murder.
Sukeena Gunner, McKenzie’s mother, says she won’t rest until she gets full justice for her son’s murder. But she is grateful to see progress being made and charges being filed.
“It was like a sigh of relief knowing we added two more to the list in connection with Jaylon’s murder,” she said. “I am still not satisfied with the charges, though, but feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”
In May, Gunner filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Madison County Circuit Court naming 12 people involved in the party, including the owner of the home where it was held.
Apart from her nephew, Gunner says she doesn’t know the five others who were allegedly involved.
“I am praying the suspects will talk and want to give more information based on what their involvement was, or it triggers the memory of someone who was there and they speak up and tell what they witnessed,” she said.
The night of the shooting
Though he was still just 14 years old, McKenzie already had drawn the attention of major college football programs. An October 2018 issue of Sports Illustrated declared him one of “six teens who will rule the future of sports.”
He transferred from Central Junior High School in Belleville to Mason Clark Middle School intent to join the football Flyers at East St. Louis High School in the fall.
McKenzie attended the party at the home of Venice Alderman Celestine Williams after an eighth-grade dance. Gunner said at the time she was told that he was trying to leave when a fight broke out. She said the party was supervised by the homeowner, who called the police and stopped the party.
That’s when McKenzie was struck by a bullet fired into a crowd, police said. He died shortly after at an area hospital.
“I still think it was random,” Gunner told the News-Democrat in April, after her nephew was charged. “There was gang war and activity going on that made the environment really unsafe for everyone else.”
Gunner said her son asked his mother to let him hang out with a few of his future football teammates at East Side.
“I dropped Jaylon off with his friend about 10 p.m. to hang out with a few friends,” she said. “He was celebrating with a few of his teammates in his new future.”
Less than an hour later, Gunner received a call from her oldest son, Brandon Jenkins, who told her he had heard something happened at the party. She jumped in her car, she recalled, and drove around Venice until she saw the flashing lights of an ambulance and police cars.
Gunner parked the car and ran down the road toward the house until police stopped her.
“Then my phone rang,” she said. “It was a friend telling me Jaylon was in the ambulance and was heading to Gateway Regional Hospital in Granite City.”
At the hospital, Gunner said she waited hours and hours before she got the news no mother ever wants to hear.
“All I remember is hitting the floor,” she said.
A future unfulfilled
Gunner has been an active participant in the quest for answers and accountability in addition to working on behalf of her son’s memory.
She has established the “Jaylon 6 Rising Star Foundation” and has held numerous fund raisers to support its programs, including a youth football camp in her McKenzie’s name.
Still, Gunner says, she struggles with her loss and the thought that her son didn’t have the chance to live out a bright future.
“I am struggling. Some days are harder than others,” Gunner said. “I never thought in a million years, I would be burying my youngest child.
“It’s just not fair. Our plans were unplanned.”
She said she wants those who have been charged in McKenzie’s death, and others who participate in gun violence, to know the hurt they leave behind.
“You destroy families,” she said. “There is no way to get the life back that you took.. And if you are caught and arrested, your family loses you, too.
“I am sick and tired of all this gun violence. I want these killings to stop and anyone who is doing it to be caught and arrested. These killings must stop.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify that six people, not five, have been arrested in connection with Jaylon McKenzie’s shooting.
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
