In crime's wake, a mother's plea

Tribune:

"My son is going to hate me for this."

Patricia Wilson said this aloud, sitting on a chair in a Southwest Side church on Tuesday, and closed her eyes.

When she saw the video of a man police are looking for in the killing of a Julian High School student Sunday night, she knew instantly. She knew his face and his clothing. She knew the man in the video on the CTA bus was her son.

What Wilson didn't know was what to do next. The last time she had seen her son Monday afternoon, he told her he loved her and walked out of their South Side home. It was not an unusual goodbye. But that night the video aired, and Wilson was at a loss. She didn't know whether he was the killer. She prayed that he wasn't. But she also knew he was on that bus.

So she called the Tribune, and I met with her. She made a mother's plea.

"I want my son to turn himself in. I want him to be safe, and I don't want him to be hurt in the streets," she said.

She wanted to tell her son that she loved him. She knew that he must be scared.

She cried as she thought of the family of Kiyanna Salter, the 17-year-old girl killed by gunfire on the bus when an argument between two men turned violent.

"My heart goes out to them. I feel so bad," she said. "If my child did this, I am so, so sorry."

There are those parents that won't do what she's doing. She isn't sure if he fired the fatal shot. Let's hope he turns himself in and tells his side of the story.