Stand off at VA hospital ends, son charged with murder of parents

Couple shot to death in West Side home
Barricade suspect in custody after 7-hour standoff

By Carlos Sadovi, Annie Sweeney and Dan Simmons

Tribune reporters

September 24, 2009


They were a father and son who lived, worked and fished together, two members of a close-knit family raised with "traditional Southern values."

But on Tuesday when Joe Washington refused his 53-year-old son's request for money -- knowing he had already burned through several hundred dollars on his cocaine habit -- he turned on him, police say.

The son, who has no criminal background, allegedly shot to death his 79-year-old father and mother, Johnnie Washington, 77, in their West Side home, several police sources said. No charges were filed by Wednesday evening.

The son fled the home in the 2200 block of South Kildare Avenue and allegedly confessed to the double murder in a 911 call to a police dispatcher, the sources said. Hours later, he walked into the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center with a gun to his head and again allegedly confessed to an employee that he had killed his parents, the sources said.

He barricaded himself in the hospital for seven hours before surrendering without a struggle to members of the Chicago Police Department's SWAT team about 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Members of the Washington family confirmed their brother was in custody. They vowed they would not abandon him.

"I want it clear. He is not a monster," the Rev. Mansa Kenyatta said as he fought back tears as he spoke of his brother. "He's still my brother, and we still love him. Our mother wouldn't want us to disown him."
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