* A day after the Chicago shooting death of Dwyane Wade’s cousin Nykea Aldridge, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump sent a tweet saying her senseless death is the reason why African-Americans will vote for him in November.
Wade said the tweet left him “conflicted,” adding that he didn’t want his family to be used for “political gain.”
“I was grateful that it started a conversation but on the other hand, it just left a bad taste in my mouth because of what my family is dealing with and what our city of Chicago is dealing with and it looks like it’s being used as political gain,” Wade said in an interview with “Good Morning America” co-anchor George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday.
As previously reported, Aldridge was fatally shot on Aug. 26 as she was pushing a stroller through Chicago’s Parkway Gardens neighborhood. Police said the 32-year-old mother-of-four was not the intended target. Two brothers described by police as known gang members have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in Aldridge’s death.
The NBA star said he was “hurt” by how media reports characterized his cousin.
“Instead of talking about a mother of four and getting to know her and getting to know how amazing, how great she was as an individual … most of them said ‘this is Dwyane Wade’s cousin.’ That was the whole thing from her murder. That kind of hurt me and put me in a dark place for a few hours,” he said, speaking
Aldridge,
Wade, who was born in Chicago and grew up in one of its toughest neighborhoods, played with the Miami Heat for 13 years before signing this year with the Chicago Bulls. The shooting came just hours after he had participated in an ESPN Town Hall on violence in America. He said his sons are just as concerned about being shot by law enforcement as they are in random street violence.
“My boys are afraid of police just the same way I was when I was growing up. And you know, not all the police, obviously. But you know my boys hear everything that’s going on in the world …,” he said.
When Stephanopoulos mentioned that Chicago police have said they’re fighting a “war” on the streets of the city, Wade agreed.
“They are. They are fighting a war. And, they can do a lot better, but they can get more help as well to do better … These other cities have way tougher gun laws, we have weak gun laws,” he said.
Wade said he just wants his family to be able to grieve for his cousin, whom he described as “the quiet one.”
Aldridge “would just be there,” he added. “She would be about her kids. She would be about her family. But you would never know she was in the room. It was shocking. It was shocking to hear not only that she was murdered. But it was shocking to hear the way and how. And her mother — my auntie, my mother, the family is, you know, is torn up.”
Watch the full interview below:
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