The Avoidable Murder of Ben Wilson
Photo Credit: ESPN Press Room
No person is innocent, even a victim, but it doesn’t justify their lives being taken away from them when all conflict could’ve been avoided.
Every parent envisions a future for their child. But what happens when that future is taken from them in one of the most gruesome ways possible? This is what happened to high school star basketball player 17-year-old Ben Wilson. His life was unnecessarily taken away from him for one of the most mundane and avoidable reasons.
Ben was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, born March 18th, 1967, to parents Ben Wilson Sr. and Mary. Wilson was quite proficient in basketball in elementary school when he liked it. Friends and family noticed his talents and realized he could further his career in basketball if he wanted to, so they did everything in their power to ensure that he furthered his abilities and education, as the 1980s was the crack epidemic and the crime rate in Chicago was running rapidly high.
Wilson continued to play basketball in high school. He played with singer and now-convicted sex offender R. Kelly and future basketball player Nick Anderson. Things were going on up and up for Wilson as he was invited to attend the Athletes For Better Education Camp in New Jersey in July 1984. This camp allowed those like Ben to be properly scouted and observed along with other talented basketball players. After a week, he was ranked America’s number-one high school player at 17.
But not only Ben’s life but all of Chicago’s life would be turned upside down on November 20th, 1984.
The Murder
Photo Credit: Ball Is Life
On September 11th, 1984, Ben Wilson had his first child, Brandon, with then-girlfriend Jetun Rush. But she began to push away from him, and he became confused. From what once was, his interactions with Rush became more intense, having arguments in the school hallways. At one point, he took his anger out on a teacher of his by shoving them to the floor when they were only trying to diffuse the argument between the couple.
On November 20th, 1984, Wilson wanted to try and speak to his girlfriend, once again, during lunch hour. Simultaneously, two students from another nearby high school, Billy Moore and Omar Dixon, skipped school carrying a .22-caliber pistol with them and heading to Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School, which is where Ben and Jetun attended. Moore was initially going to use the gun on a supposed Simeon student who stole $10 from Dixon. Luckily, he didn’t have to because the issue was resolved.
Fast forward, and we are back to Ben and Jetun. They are walking side by side. Wilson is still trying to talk to his girlfriend, hoping to work something out and salvage their relationship, but nothing was going the way he wanted. And then things got worse.
Wilson accidentally bumped into Moore while he and his girlfriend were walking by. Moore was upset by this and made a comment which angered Wilson. He stopped, turned around, and walked towards Moore, and an argument ensued between the two boys. Then, Ben Wilson was shot twice. Once in the groin area and the second time around his abdominal aorta. Moore and his cousin, Omar Dixon, fled.
911 was called, and Ben was taken to the hospital, and he died the following day, November 21st, at the young age of 17. On the night of November 20th, Billy Moore was arrested along with Omar Dixon. While interrogated, they confessed to the shooting, stating it was a robbery. Later they recanted but were still charged with Wilson’s murder. During the fall of 1985, the trial began. On October 11th, 1985, after only one hour, the jury found Omar and Billy guilty. Moore was sentenced to forty years in prison, while Omar only received thirty.
Photo Credit of Brandon Wilson: Find A Grave
Jetun Rush continued to raise her and Ben’s son, Brandon. She graduated college and married, and Brandon would become a star basketball player, later coaching basketball. Later he would also serve in the Port Washington Police Department for five years, taking inspiration from his stepfather, Edward Rivers. Unfortunately, he would later pass away on January 13, 2022, due to a car accident at age 37.
In 2000, Dixon was released on parole but would later be re-arrested on a different charge and serve a forty-year sentence in 2011. Moore was released on parole in 2005. Years later, Billy is saying that he should be forgiven for his part in the murder of Ben Wilson. Should he?
Should Billy Moore Be Forgiven?
Photo Credit of Billy Moore: In Reverie Blog
Billy Moore was interviewed on November 21st, 2012. In the beginning, the interview surrounds how despite the number of years and decades that the murder took place, Billy did his time, but it seems like he isn’t able to shake away the crime he committed. He stated that he asked the Wilson family to forgive him, “I’ve asked God to forgive me, and I have forgiven myself. As you sit here with me today, I’m 44 years old. I’m not the 16-year-old person who committed that crime.”
Moore also insisted that the shooting was in self-defense and then insisted that he does not consider himself a criminal despite shooting the 17-year-old. The self-defense angle and the insistence on not being called a criminal, for me, would be justifiable if Moore was in a situation where he was physically backed into a corner, fearing for his life. But, from what I’m seeing, he wasn’t backed into a corner and is a criminal. He originally had the gun to harm someone else, all because someone stole his cousin’s $10. All that happened with Ben was that Moore was bumped by accident. They were strangers, and the situation could’ve been easily ignored, but Moore instigated it by yelling first. When Ben began to retaliate verbally, Moore responded by shooting him not once but twice and then fled. That’s not self-defense, and that’s cowardly behavior.
“I suffered for 19 years and nine months,
and I’ve had an opportunity to regain
my freedom and resume my life.
I know every day that Ben didn’t.”
— Billy Moore
Ironically, he is a security guard for the Chicago charter school system, and he now tries to work and spread the anti-gun message, also ironic. He also wrote and released a book in 2021 titled “Until The Lion Speaks.” I’ll leave a link to Billy’s interview with the Chicago Defender if you want to take a read.
And as for Ben Wilson. On November 21st, 2022, Chicago renamed the intersection from Vincennes Avenue near 81st Street (where Ben was in front of on the day of the shooting) to 78th Street and Eberhart Avenue in honor of him on the 38th anniversary of his death.
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