Gang member gets 60-year sentence in shooting of girl, 10
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN Criminal Courts Reporter rhussain@suntimes.com February 16, 2012 2:38PM
Antoine Lacy (right) was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the slaying of Nequiel Fowler, 10, in 2008.
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Updated: March 18, 2012 8:16AM
Valerie Williams would place her hand in her older sister’s back pocket and would follow her everywhere she went.
The blind girl was not too far from a beaming Nequiel Fowler when their grandmother laid out clothes for them and their brother on the first day of school four years ago.
Valerie was also by her older sister’s side, but this time crying loudly — when hours later the 10-year-old was gunned down by a Latin Dragon who was looking for rivals to shoot on the Southeast Side.
On Thursday, Cook County Judge Kenneth Wadas sentenced the man who gave “barking orders” in the fatal 2008 shooting to 60 years in prison.
Antoine Lacy, 29, shows no signs of rehabilitation, Wadas said, noting the felon’s lengthy criminal record.
The admitted gang member bowed his head when Nequiel’s mother and grandmother, Linda Fleming, tearfully recalled the bright smiling girl they called “Nee Nee.”
Nequiel loved dancing and enjoyed making cheese omelettes for breakfast, her mother Linda Williams said. Her uncle even once paid her $5 for the egg specialty. Nequiel shared the proceeds with her two younger siblings, Williams, 30, said.
Fleming said she shared a close bond with her deceased granddaughter and would talk and bake with her.
“She would always bring me flowers; now the only flowers ... are on her own grave,” Fleming said.
Valerie, now 9, often wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep thinking about Nequiel, Fleming said.
“She doesn’t have a big sister to confide in, talk to or share her hopes and dreams,” Fleming said.
Lacy and his co-defendants, Luis Pena, 23, and Raymond Jones, 22, were convicted in January by three separate juries for the slaying in the 8700 blocks of South Exchange and South Escanaba.
The alleged getaway driver Joseph Chico, 27, also faced murder charges in Nequiel’s killing but he cut a deal with prosecutors and agreed to testify against the others in exchange for a 14-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit murder.
Pena, who prosecutors identified as the gunman, and Jones, who stored the .380 semiautomatic weapon, are awaiting sentencing.
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