Fox News analyst Gianno Caldwell publicly grieved his younger brother’s killing in Chicago, calling on the murderers to turn themselves in and lamenting that “living in Chicago should not come with a death sentence.”
Caldwell, who grew up in Chicago, wrote on social media that his “teenage baby brother was murdered” on the South Side on Friday.
“Yesterday was the worst day of my existence,” Caldwell said. “Never could I have imagined my baby brother’s life would be stolen from him. Please keep my family in your prayers.”
Police said Christian Caldwell was killed in a shooting that wounded two other people early Friday in Morgan Park.
Yesterday was the worst day of my existence. I received a call informing me that my teenage baby brother was murdered on the south side of Chicago. Never could I have imagined my baby brother’s life would be stolen from him 😭. Please keep my family in your prayers. pic.twitter.com/vtbU7qzcUa
— Gianno Caldwell (@GiannoCaldwell) June 25, 2022
They were outside in the 11400 block of South Vincennes Avenue when someone opened fire and fled in a black car at 2 a.m., police said. Another man, 31, and a woman, 25, were wounded in the attack. Police reported no arrests.
Christian Caldwell was the youngest of nine siblings, Gianno Caldwell told Fox News. He had just turned 18.
His family grew up “really poor” with a mother who was addicted to crack cocaine, Caldwell said. They were raised by their grandmother while their mother attended rehab.
Gianno Caldwell said he was like a father to his younger brothers, including Christian, whose father was absent. “I considered they were my kids... I took care of them. I financially supported them and still do,” Caldwell told Fox News.
Gianno Caldwell’s family has suffered violence before — one sibling was shot in 2017 and another held their best friend dying in their arms — but he was still shocked by his brother’s murder. “We’ve never had anybody murdered in our family, and we’ve been through very, very tragic things,” he told Fox News.
On Monday, Gianno Caldwell told Fox32 Chicago WFLD, “My family is shattered right now. The fact that this continues to happen in this city — one in which I grew up and which I love — is utterly disappointing and disgusting. There’s no value for human life here. That value has been eroded over the years. Living in Chicago should not come with a death sentence, but it does for so many people.”
He said violence that used to be concentrated on the South and West sides is now more widespread. “That tells me that something needs to change urgently,” he told Fox 32.
He said people are “desensitized” to the violence in Chicago. “If it wasn’t my brother, would I be getting all this coverage for him? Would people even know his name? No. What about the 5-month-old girl murdered on Friday. People don’t even know her name.”
Gianno Caldwell said his younger brother was a jokester who worked a job and was looking forward to attending college.
Gianno Caldwell was hired by Fox News in 2017. He founded a bipartisan firm in Washington, D.C., and runs a podcast, “Outloud with Gianno Caldwell.”
He is the author of the book, “Taken for Granted,” which recounts his difficult childhood in Chicago and how “conservative values helped him achieve his dreams,” according to his biography.
He said he wants “justice” for his brother’s murder, but he is not interested in “street justice,” he told Fox News. He asked for the attackers to turn themselves in and said he hopes they can be rehabilitated.
“There can be purpose to this pain” that my family is experiencing, he told Fox32.
“As a Christian who believes in forgiveness, who believes that there is a second path for people who could do something like this, all I want from my little brother, Christian, is justice,” he told Fox News.
