Michigan State freshman guard and former Illini recruit Jeremy Fears from Joliet, Illinois was injured in a shooting incident early Saturday morning, and underwent surgery.  He is currently expected to miss three (3) months.

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

Cover photo courtesy of Michael Hickey/Getty Images

December 24, 2023

Jeremy Fears courtesy Michael Hickey, Getty Images

IlliniGuys Exclusive - Doctors expect Jeremy Fears, Jr. to be out for 3 months as a result of an early Saturday morning shooting according to his father. 

The Michigan State freshman guard came home to Joliet, IL for the holiday break. While at home, Jeremy attended a gathering with a group of close friends.

Father Jeremy Fears, Sr. told IlliniGuys that his son was at a gathering with 20-25 friends talking and playing cards. Most of the participants left by 3 a.m. 

The door was not locked because people in the group were coming and going. They were close like that–getting food, going to their cars, getting phone chargers, little things like that.

Jeremy Sr. said that his son said, "The door was unlocked, he saw a guy dressed in all black literally walk in with a ski mask who just started shooting at everything. The shooter hit the television, refrigerator, walls, you name it. Unfortunately, my son got hit in the leg, and a young woman was hit in the stomach."

Fears is thankful his son and the woman are alive, but what he wants people to know is that he is very, very proud of his son. 

"Ked, when my son was hit, he knew it was his leg, which, according to doctors, he's very lucky the bullet didn't go left or right, or it could have hit an artery. But Jeremy, in pain himself, immediately applied pressure to the girl's wound and started to care for her and tried to tell her help was coming, and she would be ok. He found something to put on her stomach to try and stop the bleeding. I don't know where he learned that, but I'm proud of my boy," Fears, Sr. said.

These situations happen all too often, and it is never good, but worse when it is your child on the other end of the bullet.

"People need to understand there's no coming back from this. If you kill someone, it's not like ‘oops, sorry, my bad, I didn't mean to hit you’; this entire situation could have gone south, and people could have been killed. I wish people would think about things like this before you pull the trigger," Fears said.

Fears has a younger son Jeremiah, who has been recruited to Illinois along with several other Power 5 programs and the family was on an official visit with him at Providence. 

"The phone rang at 4 a.m. when we got the news. My family and I got on a plane and got back home immediately; we both were concerned and hoping he was going to be ok," Fears said.

I asked Fears if the situation that happened to the late Chicago Simeon star Ben Wilson, who was murdered on the streets of Chicago, entered his mind.

"It did, I can't lie, I'm glad this didn't get to that point, for my son or the girl that was hit or anyone for that matter. I'm hoping he will be able to be released from the hospital soon, and the young girl and her family will be ok as well," Jeremy Sr said.  

The Illinois men's basketball staff has known the Fears family for years, as they recruited Jeremy Jr. and now Jeremiah. 

Jeremy Sr. said, "I want to thank everyone who reached out to family, the Michigan State staff, and players along with Coach Tom Izzo who put his family holiday plans on hold to try and be here with us, and the Illinois staff who I've known for years."

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email: KedIlliniGuys@gmail.com