Raequonn Ricks

Raequonn Ricks was a young man from Chicago whose life was cut far too short on October 30, 2016. Public records and contemporary news accounts identify him as a 17-year-old who lived in the city and whose death on that October night was one of several losses experienced by families across Chicago during a particularly violent weekend.

Though a formal funeral-home obituary or family-published memorial matching his name and date of death could not be located in the public record, contemporary news reports place Raequonn in the Near West Side/West Side area of Chicago at the time of his death and record him among the young people taken from their families that weekend. What is visible in the public record is the outline of a life — a teen with family ties and a hometown — and the deep grief that follows when a young person’s future is interrupted.

Because there are no widely published personal remembrances available to reliably document Raequonn’s activities, schooling, or interests, this page honors the facts that can be confirmed while respecting the privacy and dignity of his family. Raequonn was a member of a community that includes neighbors, relatives, and friends who would remember him first for the everyday roles he played: as a son, a relative, a classmate, or a friend. Those who knew him best would hold the memories of his voice, laughter, and presence — details that public reports do not capture but that make his loss real and personal.

This remembrance is written to acknowledge Raequonn as a person rather than a headline. His life mattered beyond the date of his death: he was a young person with hopes and relationships whose absence was deeply felt. May this brief tribute stand as a respectful acknowledgment that Raequonn Ricks lived, mattered to people who loved him, and is remembered with care.