Darwin Butler, Chicago Cop, Finds Stepson Darius Parish Dead At Crime Scene

A Chicago Police Sergeant responding to a reported shooting didn't realize immediately that the victim was his 20-year-old stepson, whom he'd raised since the man was 8 years old.

Sgt. Darwin Butler, a 17-year veteran of the Chicago Police Force who himself was shot in the chest in West Englewood fourteen years ago, found his stepson Darius Parish dead in the driver's seat of his white Chevrolet Monte Carlo with a bullet wound to his left shoulder on Nov. 27, WGN reports. Parish's girlfriend says they were on their way to go bowling around 1 a.m. when shots rang out, striking Parish and another passenger in the arm. Three others in the vehicle, including a 10-month-old baby, were not injured.

Parish, a Whitney Young Magnet High School graduate and current pharmacy student at St. Xavier University home for Thanksgiving break on the day of the shooting, was buried Monday, according to MSNBC. No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting.

Butler told the Chicago Tribune that he initially didn't recognize his stepson because he's seen so many similar scenes he's grown to disassociate with the victims. When he realized the man who'd been shot was Parish, he "was done," and as of Tuesday, MSNBC reports that Butler was not expected into the precinct to work. But Butler says the incident has only strengthened his resolve to reduce violent crime in one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods.

"I'm going to keep fighting," Butler told the Tribune. "I'm going to keep trying to make a difference."