Jeffers recovering from gunshot

UIC STAR SHOT DEFENDING SISTER

(4/22/07)

Photo: Steve Woltmann/UIC Athletics UIC’s Othyus Jeffers was shot while protecting his sister on Friday night.

Already stung by two tragic events in his life, UIC basketball player Othyus Jeffers received another major scare Friday night.

Jeffers was shot in the upper thigh while protecting his sister from an abusive boyfriend.

The 21-year-old junior was at home recuperating Sunday after the incident.

“I'm just thankful that we both made it out alive,” Jeffers told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday.

According to Jeffers’ high school coach (at Hubbard) and confidant Calvin Holiday, Jeffers “was working out at UIC lifting weights” when his sister called him late Friday afternoon, crying and saying her boyfriend was beating her.

Jeffers rushed to the scene at the 1300 block of West Hastings on the Near West Side.

Jeffers arrived and intervened in the argument and told the boyfriend to leave, according to police. The boyfriend left but returned a short time later with a gun and allegedly fired on the siblings as they stood on the porch, around 7:30 p.m.

Jeffers was struck once in the leg and taken to University of Illinois Medical Center. He was released on Saturday. His sister, also shot in the leg, remained hospitalized on Saturday.

“Othyus is home and he’s doing OK,” said UIC’s sports information director Mike Cassidy. “It wasn’t too serious. He is still on schedule to come back [next season].”

UIC coach Jimmy Collins did not return a message seeking comment. Coaches and teammates have been in contact with Jeffers to voice their support.

Holiday said Jeffers is taking it easy for now.

“He’s in good spirits,” Holiday said. “He’ll be up and walking by [Monday]. It’s just amazing that [the bullet] went right through his leg. It didn’t hit an artery or a bone or anything.”

The assailant, a 21-year-old Chicago man, fled the scene. Police declined to identify him, though officers are aware who he is and are searching for him.

Jeffers has lost two brothers due to gun violence. His older brother Gerome Allen was killed in 1993 outside a grocery store. Allen, then 16 years old, was part of Westinghouse’s basketball team with Mark Miller, a cousin of Jeffers.

Another brother, Edmund Allen, 24, was killed in 2002 just blocks from where Gerome Allen had died.

The 6-foot-5-inch Jeffers has been at UIC for three years, playing with the Flames for the last seasons after transferring from Los Angeles Southwest Community College. After earning Horizon League Newcomer of the Year honors as a sophomore, Jeffers was a First-Team All-Horizon selection this past season, averaging team-highs with 15.4 points per game, 8.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals, while starting all 32 games.

Holiday said that Jeffers “will probably stay” at UIC for his senior season, though the two have talked recently about Jeffers’ future.

“He’s been through so much,” Holiday said. “It’s amazing to see what he’s done after what he’s been through. He needs to make a decision that’s best for him.”