Police: Mom’s work helps net arrest
17-year-old shooting victim’s mother striving to bring killer to justice
Leslie Bell said she found and confronted Faheem Norwood.
Shortly after her son, 17-year-old Isaiah Davis, of Harvey, was found by Harvey police shot to death and set on fire in an alley Oct. 28, Bell said she found out from a neighbor who her son was last with before his death.
She said she went to a house where Norwood was staying.
“I looked him in his eye, and I knew that it was him who hurt my son,” she said. “When he stuck his hand out to meet me, it was his interaction with me. I was more forefront with eye contact. He couldn’t give me eye contact. So, that was it for me.”
She took her gut feeling to the Harvey police and the detectives investigated. Police arrested Norwood, a 34-year-old Dixmoor resident, Dec. 31. He was charged with first-degree murder Jan. 1 and is being held without bail, according to the Cook County clerk of the circuit court records.
His next court date is Friday at the Markham courthouse.
Police allege Norwood shot Davis in Burnham and brought him to an alley at 149th Street and Washtenaw Avenue in Harvey and set him on fire.
Norwood was on parole for his role in an Oct. 24, 2010 shooting in Harvey that left three people dead. He was not found guilty of the shootings in 2018, but served time for related charges, said Harvey deputy police Chief Cameron Bidding.
In that case, Norwood was in the home when Donysha Stovall. 28, Shaquille Davis, 16, and Clarisma Torry, 10, were shot, according to trial testimony. A 4-year-old was shot at but survived.
Community activist Andrew Holmes, who didn’t speak at the news conference but talked to reporters afterward, said he was incensed Norwood was walking the streets after the 2010 killings and other offenses.
“It was a home invasion,” he said. “This guy, to me, walked off. You have other families upset and are still hurting. Any time you have the person of interest and have the pieces to the puzzle and you could put it there concrete and he’s back out here, it doesn’t just hurt this family, it hurts other families affected by this. The families are still bleeding from that case.”
He said it was a shame because of the work the Harvey police did on that case.
“They worked that case and they worked that case solid,” Holmes said. “It’s a slap in the face that the case didn’t go through. People laughed and joked but it’s no laugh and joke because these are people’s lives we are talking about.”
Bell agrees that Norwood should not have been allowed to be free.
“If he was locked up, my son would still be alive,” she said. “I’m happy he is in custody and can’t hurt anyone else.”
Bell said that Davis was a senior at Thornton Township High School who planned on wearing an orange tuxedo to prom and wanted to join the National Guard after graduation. She said with his penchant for always having an answer, she wanted him to study law.
He was also skilled with technology, Bell said,
“Isaiah was called all day, every day,” she said. “He was the go-to person. He put together the TVs, phones, cable … anything you needed you call Isaiah. Now I have no son to call. I’m lost without him. Every time I turn and something is broke, I want to call Isaiah. Everything was Isaiah. He was my baby.”
Biddings did not provide details on the case, but lauded the family and community for help.
“I thank the family of Isaiah Davis for working with us and helping us bring this dangerous man to justice,” he said. “We were able to do this because the community was able work with us.”
Mayor Christopher Clark said he had mixed emotions about this case.
“An evil man was arrested, charged and incarcerated in the Cook County jail for a vicious murder,” Clark said. “I’m deeply upset that our community lost a teenager way too early. But I must recognize the great work of the Harvey Police Department to help lead us to taking this violent offender off the street.”
“They worked that case and they worked that case solid. It’s a slap in the face that the case didn’t go through. People laughed and joked but it’s no laugh and joke because these are people’s lives we are talking about.”
— Community activist Andrew Holmes