Jermaine T Robinson

Jermaine T. Robinson, a 26-year-old African-American man who was striving to build a future in music, was shot and killed in Chicago on the afternoon of July 17, 2017. Known to some by his rap name, FBG Brick, Jermaine had a complex past but was focused on a new path, dreaming of cultivating the talent of other musicians on the city's South Side.

Raised by his great-grandmother in the Ida B. Wells Homes in Bronzeville, Jermaine grew up in poverty and faced early struggles that led to encounters with the criminal justice system. Despite these challenges, he was determined to change his life. In the years before his death, he had been studying music management at Columbia College and was working as a janitor at a Boys & Girls Club. He was a father to a young daughter and his girlfriend was expecting their second child. Those who knew him remembered him as funny, loving, and caring. His life, however, had been marked by hardship, including spending more than four years in Cook County Jail awaiting a trial for a weapon-possession charge for which he maintained his innocence.

The day Jermaine was killed was a Monday. Around 2:50 p.m., gunfire erupted on what residents described as a typically "nice, quiet block" in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Neighbors reported hearing about a dozen shots, possibly from two different guns. When Chicago Police officers arrived at the 6300 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue, they found a devastating scene. Jermaine was discovered in front of a home with a gunshot wound to his head. In a nearby gangway, officers found a second man, 31-year-old Stanley Jacoby Mack, who had been shot in the back and arm.

Both Jermaine, who lived in the South Shore neighborhood, and Stanley, from the Austin neighborhood, were pronounced dead at the scene. The Cook County medical examiner’s office later confirmed that both men died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled their deaths as homicides. The shooting shattered the peace of the residential street, shaking residents who considered their block a safe refuge filled with older people and families.

The investigation into the double homicide was handled by the Chicago Police Department. In the immediate aftermath, police had not identified any suspects, and no one was taken into custody. The case was believed to be connected to ongoing gang conflicts in the city, as Jermaine was affiliated with the Fly Boy Gang, or FBG. His younger brother was the rapper FBG Duck, who was also tragically shot and killed three years later in August 2020.

In the years following the killings, Jermaine’s mother, LaSheena Weekly, became a vocal advocate against gun violence in Chicago, calling for peace and an end to the cycle of retaliation that had claimed two of her sons. Despite the high-profile nature of the case within the city's rap community, the investigation into the murders of Jermaine Robinson and Stanley Mack has stalled. As of July 2024, no arrests have been made, and no suspects have been publicly identified. The case remains open and unsolved, leaving a family grappling with unanswered questions and the profound loss of a young man who was working toward a brighter future.