I don't think that the Bears, or any NFL team for that matter, can exercise a lot of control over who the players hang out with. Apparently Posey and Johnson have been friends since childhood.
After the events of last year, Johnson should have had enough sense to ... Duh!
I walked by the Ice Bar last week. I have never been inside. I already enter enough rooms where I look out of place.
Family saw 8 die in year
December 17, 2006
By Sun-Times Staff Reports
Willie Bernard Posey Jr. showed a fierce loyalty to his friends and family.
He nursed his father while he battled leukemia.
And he watched the back of his boyhood pal, Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson, as Johnson's bodyguard.
Investigators are piecing together whether that loyalty cost him his life.
Posey, 26, the father of four young children, was shot and killed early Saturday morning at a River North nightclub after a fight broke out there, police said. No one had been charged Saturday night, as investigators tried to determine what happened and sifted through statements from witnesses. Some witnesses initially lied to police, authorities said.
Johnson told police he did not see his friend get shot, a source said. He is cooperating with authorities and was interviewed twice.
"Everything happened so quickly, he's confused. He's trying to cope with what's going on," said Johnson's attorney, Thomas Briscoe.
The murder left Posey's family reeling.
They found out about it from the TV news Saturday morning.
Keshia L. Posey, his sister, said her brother -- called Bernard by the family to differentiate him from his father -- was the youngest of six siblings and her only brother. He is the eighth family member the Poseys have had to bury in a year marked by illness and tragedy for the family.
Raises further questions
"When my auntie called me to turn on the news, it was devastating," Keshia Posey said. "It was hard for me to call my mother to tell her her only son is dead," Posey said.
The slaying came just two days after Posey and Johnson were charged after a raid at Johnson's home in Gurnee where Posey was living temporarily. Police said they found guns and marijuana.
Bears coach Lovie Smith said after the Thursday raid that Johnson wouldn't play in today's game.
Saturday's club tragedy raises further questions about Johnson's future with the team. Under the terms of his release on bond in the Gurnee case, Johnson was supposed to avoid drugs and alcohol.
Johnson's friend had a criminal history, spending time in prison from 2001 to 2003 on an armed robbery charge, but the Posey family insists his crime didn't define him.
"He made mistakes. He took ownership of what he did, and he was turning his life around," Keshia Posey said of her brother, who she said was skilled in calligraphy and wrote his own rap songs.
Posey and Johnson shared a love of football and were friends since boyhood, attending the same elementary and high schools in Tempe, Ariz.
Posey was a talented defensive tackle at McClintock High School but didn't have the size to make it big like his friend Johnson did, former coaches said.
Gun not found
Posey "practiced hard, played hard," said Scot Bemis, a football coach and former defense coordinator at the high school. "He always had a little smile on his face."
Posey was living in Johnson's Gurnee home temporarily while he provided security for Johnson.
They were at the trendy Ice Bar at 738 N. Clark in the VIP section, which a club promoter said they had frequented before. Around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, an argument started and a fight broke out.
One shot rang out, hitting Posey in the left shoulder and traveling into his chest, Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline said Saturday. Police did not know what the fight was about. They haven't recovered the gun but are processing ballistics evidence, authorities said.
The bar is frequented by gang members, authorities said. Bar owners did not return phone messages Saturday. The bar does pass a metal detector wand over customers at times, but it's unclear if personnel did that Friday night and, if so, how the gun got in.
Posey was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
He had been in a bad mood Friday night, battling sadness over the death of his father in April, his family said. His father's birthday was in December, and throughout the month, Posey was constantly reminded of the man he loved so much.
"Words cannot explain the pain and sadness that dwell within me," Posey wrote in a letter after his father's death.
His friends and family described Posey as a man who was not violent or confrontational.
Grieving, worried
On Thursday, he was in the basement of Johnson's house when police stormed in. They found marijuana at a table where Posey had been sitting and more marijuana in a nearby freezer, authorities said. Police were acting on a search warrant after complaints about Johnson's dogs and gunfire outside his home.
Posey was charged with felony possession of marijuana. As for Johnson, police said they found six firearms during the raid and cited him with misdemeanors for lacking a firearm owner's identification card.
On Saturday, Johnson was grieving the loss of his friend. And he was worried, his lawyer said.
"He's worried about his two families -- the first family being his two daughters, and this second family being the Chicago Bears and Chicago Bears fans," Briscoe said. "He's afraid that people are going to get the idea that he let them down."
Contributing: STEVE WARMBIR, FRANK MAIN, DAVE NEWBART, ANNIE SWEENEY AND MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporters
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