On January 22, 2010, Samuel Thomas, a 41-year-old African American man from Chicago, was fatally shot outside his home in the East Garfield Park neighborhood. Known affectionately as “Red,” Thomas was a devoted father, husband, and active member of Greater St. John Bible Church, where he volunteered with the security ministry. He had a long work history, including positions at Zenith and the Santa Fe Railroad. According to family accounts, Thomas had stepped outside in his pajamas to check on his car when he was shot four times and found near the 400 block of North St. Louis Avenue. Police indicated that the murder was not related to gang or drug activity, but as of the latest available reports, no suspects had been identified and the case remained unsolved.
Tragically, just two months later, on March 24, 2010, Samuel Thomas’s 19-year-old son, Samuel Isiah Thomas, was also shot and killed. The younger Thomas, also African American, was outside his grandmother’s home near Ferdinand and Ridgeway on Chicago’s West Side when he was approached and shot in the chest and thigh. He was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The incident occurred just a week before his 20th birthday. Witnesses reported that the shooting followed a verbal altercation allegedly instigated by the suspect’s girlfriend, who accused Thomas of making inappropriate comments. The suspect, 20-year-old Deonta Wallace, reportedly returned to the scene and opened fire.
Wallace, a resident of the 4300 block of West Adams, was arrested on May 2, 2010, in the Calumet Heights neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. He was charged with first-degree murder and reportedly confessed to the shooting. His bail was set at $800,000. The arrest brought some measure of relief to the grieving family, though the pain of their loss remained profound. Catherine Elam-Thomas, the grandmother of Samuel Isiah Thomas, expressed both gratitude for the arrest and ongoing sorrow, stating that the apprehension of the shooter did not bring her grandson back.
In the wake of these tragedies, the Thomas family organized a prayer vigil on May 22, 2010, near the corner of Franklin and St. Louis, the site of Samuel Thomas’s murder. The vigil served as both a memorial and a call to action, urging community members to come forward with any information that could assist in solving the elder Thomas’s case. Despite the passage of time, the family remained hopeful that justice would eventually be served.
