Fox’s Gianno Caldwell Seeks Justice for Murdered Brother

CLAY: We are joined now by someone who has, unfortunately, had the experience of being a victim of these violent crimes, he and his family. He is Fox’s Gianno Caldwell. I saw you, Gianno, on Sean Hannity’s show last week — I think we were on the same day — telling the story of your brother. And we know this is an incredibly difficult time for you and your family, but we wanted to help you, hopefully, help solve this tragedy for your family. Can you share with our audience — who likely many of them have not heard the story — what happened to your brother and what they can do to help you and your family hopefully solve this incredible tragedy that is symptomatic of so many tragedies that are happening across the across the country now.

CALDWELL: Well, Clay, thank you for having me on and Buck. I’m not sure if he’s in the studio with you.

BUCK: I’m here, Gianno. Thanks for calling in.

CALDWELL: No, thank you for answering my message right away and saying, “Yes, you can come on.” You know, my baby brother just two Fridays ago — it was a Friday morning — I received a call saying that he was outside of a venue in Chicago on the South Side, 114 South Vincent (ph) to be exact, right across the street from a church, unfortunately enough. He was outside standing next to two individuals when a black SUV pulled up, three to four men got out of that car and they began firing. Fifty shell casings were found at the scene.

(sigh) Man, I just got to the point where I can mention this and not profusely tear up. So, thank you for bearing with me. Two or three people hit in total. A young lady hit in the leg, another gentleman or, rather, another guy, I should say. He was shot, rushed to the hospital, surgery, had to have other surgeries performed since then. But my baby brother Christian never had that opportunity to be in critical care, to even have the possibility of life. His life was ended right there. From that point on I recognized — especially after trying to think through what would be the next steps, knowing that there were these men at large who just murdered my baby brother.

Not shot, simply shot or killed, but they murdered him. They stole his life from him. What was I going to do next? When was I gonna make it public? And it hit me right away. ‘Cause I couldn’t sleep. I gotta get out and start doing press because I need to ensure that the men who murdered my baby brother are brought to justice. So I knew immediately I had to post this, and thank God I work for the premier news organization in the world who 30 minutes later after I posted made sure there were articles and started talking about it on shows on Sunday and then doing press Monday and continuing on and on to ensure that there’s justice for Christian.

Our hearts are broken. Our hearts are shattered. We cannot believe this happened to our little brother. But what’s really, really heartbreaking for so many people is, this is something that occurs in the city of Chicago on a daily, consistent basis. You simply don’t know their names because they’re not related to Gianno Caldwell. They don’t have someone with a microphone that can talk about it and hopefully get justice. These individuals had no names! They’re just another count in a daily homicide rate in the city of Chicago, and it is heartbreaking that so many other people have to deal with that. But while I reach for justice for my little brother, I want to reach for justice for them as well. But now I’m here today to talk obviously about Christian, who was murdered and his life was stolen from us.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Gianno Caldwell of Fox News. Gianno, I know that the killers, the murderers here are still at large, and you’ve also asked for anybody who may have tips to reach out to you directly. Do we have any indication as to what was…? Is it believed that any of the victims knew or that Christian knew who these shooters were? Was it a totally random criminal act? Do you have any context for people, ‘cause if there’s anyone out there listening who may know something, that might be helpful.

CALDWELL: Okay. So the individuals again were in a black SUV. Three to four African-American gentleman, dreads. The police have told me that my brother Christian was not being targeted. He was not. Folks are calling it wrong place, wrong time. But the problem is Chicago is, you can be lying in bed sleeping and it happened to be the wrong place, wrong time when a bullet comes through your window or like a senior citizen watering their grass and they get shot, murdered, or just a kid simply being in the back seat of a car at 5 months old.

They’re at the wrong place, wrong team, they’re being murdered! (bitter chuckle) The erosion of life in the city of Chicago has become a desperate level. People do not value life in that city, and that’s a problem. That is a problem that needs to be fixed. There is a need to get tougher on the criminals there. We had a whole two years, probably more than that, where police have been nothing but demoralized across the country. Criminals feel free to commit these crimes. They feel free to murder. They don’t acquiesce to the policies of the law of the land.

They don’t fear that anymore because we have an entire society whose literally turned their backs on the police who are meant to protect us. So, yeah, these individuals in terms of context: African-American men, dreads, they in a black SUV, my baby brother to the best of my knowledge what the police are saying did not know these individuals. He just happened to be there, and he lost his life because he lived and dared to breathe on the South Side of Chicago. This is happening — go ahead.

BUCK: No, sorry. I know it is happening with far too high a frequency. We talked about the number of shootings, over 70 people shot over just this one weekend — 71 shot, eight killed over the Fourth of July weekend — and it’s just unbelievable and awful, the number of people that are losing their lives and that are being grievously injured in this way. Has anyone from either the police department in Chicago or the mayor’s office, Lori Lightfoot’s office, reached out? Given your national profile and the way this story is getting national-level media attention, did anyone reach out to say they’re on it? Has anyone reached out to say, “We’re not gonna let this slip through the cracks?”

CALDWELL: Well, I was the former spokesman for the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and I’ve spoken with a number of leaders there, and they’ve assured me that the superintendent of police is aware; he’s all over it. I’ve spoken with them directly; I’ve spoken with the detective on the case but not with the superintendent. I’ve not talked to the mayor’s office. We’ve requested a meeting with the mayor’s office. And, you know, it’s just because I work for Fox News, I think that there could be some considerations with them meeting with us or even talking about the case.

I believe that could be a part of it. I don’t have anything to confirm it, but that seems to be a sentiment among what people are telling me. So, no. I haven’t had that opportunity. My only bully pulpit is to be on radio with you guys with your large audience or with Fox News or with the local media driving home the point about my brother’s death and the fact that there’s many, many victims like him in the city of Chicago that are losing their lives daily, absolutely, and it’s something that needs to end.

This is really something that should be telling for the Chicago police or the leaders in the city of Chicago of what kind of environment that has been created there. Just last Friday, Downtown Chicago, there was a mass shooting right down the street from the mayor’s office! We’re talking about blocks. Blocks from the governor’s office. (laughing) If you can’t be safe downtown Chicago, where can you be safe anywhere in the city of Chicago? This is happening in areas that aren’t… It isn’t about black-on-black crime.

It’s happening all over the city, and it needs to come to an end. So if anyone knows any information about my brother Christian’s murder, please call the Chicago police, and I have a number for you here, 312-747-8271. Again that’s 312-747-8271. And if you don’t want to talk to the police, if you don’t want to send it to the police, you may do so by reaching out to me directly on Instagram or Facebook, and that’s @GiannoCaldwell, G-i-a-n-n-o, Caldwell, C-a-l-d-w-e-l-l. Again that’s @GiannoCaldwell, G-i-a-o-n-n-o, Caldwell, C-a-l-d-w-e-l-l.

CLAY: Gianno, your family’s tragedy is overwhelming, I know, to you. I’m sure also that you’re hearing from so many other families that are also with similar issues of — and, frankly, all over the country — and many of them, I think your point is so well made, don’t have the resources to reach out to media and media looks the other way.

BUCK: Yeah.

CLAY: Why is it that so many of these murders that are happening don’t receive any attention at all, and what can we do to change that across America?

CALDWELL: You know what? I’ll tell you, it’s we’re using Chicago as an example. Last Friday night on local affiliate — not a Fox affiliate, but a local affiliate — in the city of Chicago they said, “Hey, three people shot, 18-year-old murdered.” That was it. That was it. So, yeah, there’s not a lot of press attention around these issues because of the frequency. People have become numb to them. “It’s just another shooting. Wow, that’s sad.”

Whether it be in the city of Chicago or Baltimore or Detroit. Even some have become numb to what just happened in Highland Park just yesterday at a parade! There’s folks saying, “Yeah, we need to move on,” and then there’s also people who are disingenuously saying that we need more gun control when there was an assault weapons ban in Highland Park. (chuckles) You already… The gun control was already there and we’re talking about one of the most prominent cities, North Shore cities — in the U.S., actually — in the U.S., but certainly in Illinois.

We’ve become numb to these things because of the frequency. And I think what people need to do is continue to make their voices heard whether it be on social media or even reaching out, if you have a family member who’s been murdered, reach out to that print journalist on whatever website for your local newspaper. Find out who reports on this. Send them an email. Beg and plead for a call with them, tell ’em your story. You gotta reach out to folks.

Instagram, Twitter, whatever medium you might have available to you, use those resources, call those people, and someone eventually will hear you. So you gotta just be persistent. I’m just blessed to be in a place that this is what I do for a living. But what about the others that don’t have that access? This is what you can do. You can just reach out — find them on Twitter, find them on Instagram, find them on Facebook — and someone will more than likely respond to you if you’re persistent.

BUCK: Gianno… Thank you, Gianno Caldwell, for calling in and telling us your story, raising this issue, not just of the tragedy your own family suffered through here for people to hear about and know what this really means but also just the continuous bloodshed in the city of Chicago and the inability of authority it seems to get a handle on it. God bless you. Come back, tell us if we have any updates on this one, and let us know if we can help.

CALDWELL: Please, and thank you so much and you’re helping so much. Thank you, Clay, thank you. Buck, I really appreciate your guys and love your show.

BUCK: Thank you so much, Gianno.

CLAY: Thank you for sharing your story with us.