A Chicago community mourns the loss of Jayden Perkins, an 11-year-old boy known for his remarkable talent as a dancer.
According to Block Club Chicago, Perkins was a dancer at Gus Giordano Dance School, where he garnered admiration from both his peers and instructors for his skills and commitment to his craft. The institution has resumed classes for the first time without its star performer as he is remembered by all who knew him.
“We decided he’d want us to dance,” Amy Giordano, the Gus Giordano Dance School executive director, said. “Jayden was always performing. And that gift radiated to everyone who shared the floor with him.”
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She recalled Perkins being on a full merit scholarship, where he explored hip-hop and ballet among various genres. Celebrated as a multi-talented kid, he enjoyed playing football, excelled in math, and even had a leading role in an upcoming school play. The preteen was a rising star with a promising future.
Perkins was killed on March 13 while trying to protect his pregnant mother from a convicted domestic abuser inside their apartment. Police responded to 911 calls around 8 a.m., discovering both the 11-year-old and his 33-year-old mother with injuries after being attacked.
She was preparing to take Perkins and his younger brother to school when 37-year-old Crosetti Brand forced his way into the apartment with a knife and attacked her. Perkins suffered a single stab wound to the chest, and his mother had multiple stab wounds, Block Club Chicago reported.
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They were both transported to St. Francis Hospital, where the young boy was pronounced dead. However, the mom and her unborn child have since been released from the hospital and are recovering at home.
CBS News reported that the woman had multiple restraining orders against Brand, who was released on parole on March 12, a day before the attack. The woman reportedly had a 15-year history with Brand and recounted him sending text messages threatening to kill her and her family. Brand faces charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery, home invasion, and domestic battery.
Perkins is remembered as a hero who saved the lives of his mother and unborn sibling in the heartbreaking incident. Block Club Chicago reported that a fundraising event organized by his schools has garnered more than $120,000 in support. These funds will cover the medical bills for Perkins’ family, funeral arrangements and potentially establishing an education fund for his 5-year-old brother, Giordano told Block Club Chicago.
“Somehow the system has failed the family and failed Jayden,” Peirce Elementary Principal Lori Zaimi said. “I don’t know exactly where that lies. But I do know this is something that should not have happened.”
