Lil Durk’s slain brother’s friend sought after cop shot during gunfight at suburban Chicago strip clubTom Schubaon June 16, 2021 at 12:38 am

After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Devinair English denied the police account of what took place the night Lil Durk’s brother, Dontay “DThang” Banks, was shot dead.

An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for a south suburban man who allegedly shot a police officer during a chaotic scene outside a Harvey strip club earlier this month in which rapper Lil Durk’s brother was killed.

Devinair English, 23, of Maywood, is wanted for aggravated battery to a peace officer and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in connection to the June 6 shooting outside Club O, 17038 S. Halsted St., according to court records and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

English was an associate of fledgling rapper Dontay “DThang” Banks, who was fatally wounded in a separate shooting that happened around the same time in the club’s parking lot. Banks is the brother of local rap superstar Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks.

No charges have been filed in English’s case or Banks’ killing, a spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office said.

‘Multiple gunshots were ringing out’

Reached by phone Tuesday, English was unaware that a warrant had been issued for his alleged role in the officer’s shooting. “None of that’s true,” he said after learning of the allegations.

As the club was closing that night, a police officer who was stationed outside the club “for crowd control” reported that “gunfire erupted throughout the lot,” according to Harvey police records obtained by the Sun-Times.

“Multiple gunshots were ringing out, as patrons fled in all directions,” according to a police report, which noted that security guards were also present.

Around the same time, English was allegedly “involved in a physical altercation” with a pair of responding officers when one of the cops noticed he had a handgun and wrestled it away, police records show. In the process, the officer was shot in the left thigh, and English took off. The officer was listed in good condition, according to a Harvey spokeswoman.

The other officer later tried to unjam the weapon that was taken, at which point a single spent round was “expelled from the chamber,” police records show.

English said he was merely giving the gun to his cousin, who he said has a license to carry it publicly.

“We pulled the car around and in the midst of me hopping out and trying to give my cousin his firearm, the police grabbed me,” he said.

In April, English pleaded guilty to a drug charge out of Chicago and was sentenced to two years probation, court records show.

English said he’s unsure what exactly happened elsewhere in the parking lot, though he noted that “an argument broke out” and others started shooting as he was wrestling with the officers.

A police report notes that “firearms began discharging by unknown subjects at the southeast corner of the building, with return gunfire by unknown subjects at the northeast corner of the building.”

Officers ultimately found Banks near an SUV that was damaged by gunfire, police records show. Multiple shell casings were found nearby.

“The individual had an unruly crowd surrounding him,” a police report states. “A large puddle of blood was near his head [and] neck area.”

Banks, who lived in Chicago’s Gresham neighborhood, suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Some of his associates took him to South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, where he died, according to police records and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Herschel Rush, an attorney for Banks’ family, declined comment.

Banks’ funeral service was held last week.

4 types of shell casings found

After the shootings, four different types of shell casings littered the parking lot and “bloodlike stains” covered the pavement in multiple locations, police records show.

At least one person was taken for questioning, police records show. While in custody, that person said he did marketing work for Banks and attempted to leave the scene in the SUV because he was “emotional” about the shooting.

He also told investigators that English was among a group that accompanied Banks to the strip club that night, an account English confirmed.

The person added that Banks got into an argument with an unknown male who shot him and fled the scene, records show. His description of the shooter broadly matched a description security personnel provided of one of the individuals involved in the gunfight.

Police were investigating if another fatal shooting hours later was possible retaliation.

Contributing: David Struett

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times, Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Read More