15-yr-old twins, Demacio and Demario and Bailey. (Courtesy Photo)
Demario and Demacio Bailey are 15-year-old twin brothers, but, after an altercation, they are now forever separated.
The Bailey brothers were on their way to basketball practice on Dec. 13 when four young men approached and started harassing them, according to news accounts. The young men tried to take Demacio’s coat and rifled through the boys’ pockets.
When Demario, the slightly older twin, saw one of the assailants holding down his brother, he rushed to the rescue. But, even as Demacio escaped, one of the suspects turned around and shot Demario in the chest, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“My son did nothing but what I told him to do. I told him to stick with his brother,” the boys’ mother, Delores Bailey told the Tribune. “I picked them up. I dropped them off. I picked them up. How did I know the devil was going to come at 12 o’clock?”
The next day, Demacio had a basketball game in which he played. Before the game a moment of silence was observed for Demario.
“They were raised to stick together,” their grandmother, Bernice Fitzpatrick told the Gawker. “We always said, ‘Take after your brother, look after your brother.”
Carlos Johnson, 17, Deafro Brakes, 17, his brother Tarik Brakes, 16, and Isiah Penn, 17, are each charged as adults with first-degree murder, attempted robbery with a firearm and robbery in the incident.
The twin brothers’ 16th birthday was Dec. 17.