Kankakee community leaders looking for solutions to gun violence

KANKAKEE — A community healing center is set to open for people affected by gun violence in the wake of a mass shooting that killed two people and injured five others mere hours into 2025.

Plans for the center were announced Monday during a Stop the Violence gathering and news conference regarding the Jan. 1 incident in which seven people were shot at a New Year’s Eve house party on the east side of Kankakee.

The shooting incident remains under investigation.

Live Free Illinois, a chapter of the national organization against gun violence and mass incarceration in the Black community, is donating $200,000 toward the establishment of the center, which will offer free mental health services, in the city’s Second Baptist Church, 717 N. Wildwood Ave.

Also taking the podium, Mayor Chris Curtis and local church and community leaders spoke to the need for the combined efforts of the community and police to put an end to gun violence and the senseless loss of young lives.

The mother of the two brothers who were killed — 22-year-old Quaysean T’ Andre Isom, of Kankakee, and 20-year-old TreVontae C. Ellis, of Pembroke Township — stood somberly at the front of the church as speakers offered prayers and condolences.

COMMUNITY HEALING CENTER

Michael Prude, a 1st Ward alderman and regional fellow for Live Free Kankakee, said the goal is to open the community healing center by Feb. 1.

This will be the 11th such site in the state of Illinois, Prude said.

Counselors will be available at the center to assist individuals dealing with gun violence or other trauma and refer them to other programs when further help is needed.

“Now it’s time to take action,” Prude said. “So we are here. We’re not here to tear down the police, but we’re here to work with the police. But we also want to hold the police accountable for everything that goes on as well.”

The Live Free network is also aimed at organizing Black churches in creating a justice ministry that can provide help and healing when violence takes place.

“It’s not because we’re excluding anybody else, but the gun violence and everything is happening in the Black community, and the churches need to come together,” Prude said.

Pastor Deric Caples, statewide organizer for Live Free Illinois, said that in addition to the healing aspect, the group also looks at “changing the system” through justice.

Live Free Illinois works with 125 congregations statewide to help them to organize and have their voices heard with legislators and law enforcement.

“We really want to be able to come together in Kankakee and help to build a powerful base that will be able to address this gun violence and see a reduction in gun violence,” Caples said.

WORKING TOGETHER

Genevra Walters, retired Kankakee School District 111 superintendent, said that her father was a victim of gun violence as a business owner in 1969.

In that instance, people “came together” to help; someone rushed him to the hospital, and someone told police who the shooter was so the perpetrator could be apprehended.

Those are the same things that need to happen today, she said.

“We need to take care of the victims and their families,” Walters said. “We need to make sure they’re OK. We need to make sure someone is telling the police who the shooter is, and we need to apprehend the shooter. We need to work together, because we can no longer tolerate losing the number of young people we’ve lost, actually, in the last 10 years.”

Rodney Lake, a pastor with the Kankakee Baptist District Association, said the churches, community, police department and service organizations all must be on the same page.

“We have met on numerous occasions talking about the violence that takes place,” Lake said. “It’s time to put some things into action, and it requires all of us working together. We can’t work against the police, and the police can’t work against us, but the community has to work together. There is strength in numbers.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis said that he would love to see the annual number of homicides in Kankakee hit zero.

“Unfortunately, four hours into the new year, we’re not going to meet that goal in 2025,” he said. “We haven’t met that goal in 25-plus years, but that is a realistic goal we should [strive] for — no loss of life.”

Another difficult but achievable goal, Curtis said, is to continue reducing the number of gunshots in the city.

He said that the annual number of shots fired decreased by 53.3% in the last three years; from an all-time high of 774, down to 358 shots fired in 2024.

“That’s still far, far, far too many, but it’s the right direction,” Curtis said.

POLICE PERSPECTIVE

Kankakee Police Chief Chris Kidwell said police have interviewed 15 to 20 people who were at the party where the shooting occurred, but more witness cooperation is needed.

Upwards of 50 people attended the party.

He asked community leaders to help encourage more to come forward with first-hand information.

“We know that if we don’t solve this, there’s going to be more gun violence, not only in our town, but in Pembroke and Bradley and Bourbonnais and everywhere else in our community, and we can’t do it without you guys,” Kidwell said.

Deputy Chief Donell Austin said the department has been working to increase its community involvement and engagement activities with youth.

Austin noted he believes in “reimagining public safety” through collaborative community efforts.

The root causes of gun violence must be addressed, he said.

Oftentimes, perpetrators as well as victims of gun violence have unaddressed trauma related to gun violence from their past.

“I want to reach those children and those people before they end up on the autopsy table,” Austin said. “That’s a gruesome reality, but it is a reality. We want that to not be our reality here in the city of Kankakee.”

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