SIDES FAMILY GRIEVES, WANTS JUSTICE FOR JESUS

Sitting in her front yard Saturday afternoon encircled by family members and friends, Marilyn Sides Morrison had her infant great-grandchild in her lap and her 19-year-old grandson on her mind.

Jesus Sides, who was shot to death Thursday afternoon at Indian Park, was the child's father.

The group spoke of "Sus" and the need for something to be done about the violence in the Cape Girardeau south side neighborhood.

"In this area down here, they do 20 or 30 shots every weekend," said Jesus' mother, Sylvia Sides. "It's awful."

Said Morrison, "This is going to have to be stopped."

"Sus" Sides played eighth and ninth-grade football at Central Junior High School. He also liked baseball and basketball. He was especially kind to people who are disabled, said family friend Jenny Bell.

"He had a heart to make them feel they were valued," she said.

Morrison is tired of seeing people get away with murder. "We want justice for Sus ... and we're not going to give up until they do something," she said angrily. "I want something done."

Sides' friend, Byron Brown, said he was at Indian Park that day. He says Sides was ambushed. Family members disputed the police contention that Sides' 17-year-old brother, Solomon, was the target.

Sides had been unemployed quite a while and had had trouble with the law but had told his grandmother he was going to change his life and get a job. Earlier on the day he was killed, he had gone for an interview at the Workforce Inc. employment agency.

Police say the killing was over a dispute that originated in a stabbing last month at a local nightclub. Family members acknowledged that Sides was concerned.

"He was struggling," said his mother. "He came home crying two nights."

They are adamant that the killer not get off easy.

"It's about time for people to be punished for what they do," said Bell. "I'm tired of seeing that in our community, and I go so far as to say in our black community."

Morrison said she is afraid now, that "they might shoot into our house."

Funeral for Jesus Sides is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at New Bethel Baptist Church, with visitation beginning an hour earlier.