Suspect Arrested in Cop Shooting

...and yes, I know the suspect. It's Julian.

He and a second person are accused of shooting the officer. I still can't find a news story about this but I've heard from enough people, some of whom I consider reliable, to believe such a shooting took place. And I know his mom was at his hearing at 26th today, she told me herself.

When the cops showed up looking for him and they told her what he was accused of, "she looked like a ghost," one of my neighbors told me. She doesn't believe he did it, of course. Sadly, I'm afraid I do. Or at least I recognize it's possible, maybe even likely at this stage of the game. But I'm not the daughter of a public defender for nothing, I guess.

However, I'm way more interested in trying to keep Joey out of trouble now than in helping Julian. When Julian got out of Cook County before, we talked some. "You make me think about things differently," he told me. Not differently enough. It was very clear that even though jail had scared him, it hadn't scared him into giving up his gangbanger buddies.

In the car on Wednesday, Joey was talking about how he and Peter Pan used to box with Julian and a friend of his. They even had hand wraps. Joey got knocked flat once, but then he started to get it. "Remember, Peter?"

"Yeah."

I remember when Julian was bugging me about where to get boxing gloves and how much they cost. Then it was stereo speakers and DJ equipment. Then it was lawyers.

If there's anything to be done to keep Joey from going down that road, I hope to God we figure out what it is and do it.