Error ball?

The woman answered the door of the small Ford Heights house. I swear, I've never seen eyes become so big.

She looked frightened, and certainly unhappy to see me. Then again, I understood why the woman who identified herself as being Brian Conway's mother would be suspicious.

It's a natural reaction when your son has been arrested for armed robbery and a stranger comes knocking.

After telling her who I was and where I was from, I asked her if Brian was there, and she shook her head. I asked her if she'd talk to me, and she became kind of angry.

"I have no comment," she said, shutting the door in my face.

Slowly, I began walking away. A few seconds later, I heard the door swing back open.

"My baby's innocent," a plaintive voice cried out.

Tears were rolling down the woman's face as I turned back and told her what a wonderful high school basketball player her son was, and how I enjoyed so much watching his father, former Bloom and DePaul University star Brandon Cole, play back in the day.

I also told her how I wanted very earnestly to give her, and Brian, a chance to tell their side of the story.

"Well, if you're being sincere, I appreciate that," she said. "I have no (other) comment. My baby's innocent," she said. Then she closed the door again.

I sincerely hope she's right, that the police got the wrong guys and the victims were wrong in identifying them. That somehow it wasn't Conway and Bloom Township teammate Rajsaun Thompson who, along with a third party, robbed a couple who were depositing checks at a local ATM at 1:20 a.m. Monday.

Sandra Walker, Thompson's grandmother, just wants the facts to be straight.

I spoke with her Thursday at Thompson's home in Chicago Heights. Rajsaun, who is the son of former Argo great and McDonald's All-American Ray Thompson, was still in the process of being bailed out of county jail.

She didn't appear as frightened as Conway's mother, and wasn't nearly as suspicious. In fact, she invited me in to the house.

"It's shocking news," she said. "But there are parts (of the story) that are wrong."

The story in Thursday's SouthtownStar indicated that Thompson grabbed the woman and forced her between two vans, while Conway pulled out a handgun and held it on her male companion.

An accomplice, according to the story, helped Thompson search the woman, while Conway allegedly put the man in a headlock, forced him over to the ATM and fired a single shot into the air when the man showed signs of panicking.

All three, according to the story, fled when Thompson spotted a passing police car. They were alleged to have been apprehended by police a short time later.

Walker, as friendly, confident and cooperative as could be, broke it down thusly:

"There was never no gun involved. So that part is not true," she said. "(The police) did not apprehend him, his mom took him to the police department. That part about them apprehending him, that's not true."

I asked her how Rajsaun was doing.

"He's not too good," she said. "He's very scared. He's shook up. Rajsaun comes from a good home, a good background. He goes to church, he's a Christian.

"You know, kids make mistakes. Nobody's perfect, but there was never no gun involved."

That's what she believes. And that's what I hope. And I'm sure that's what Rick Moss would wish, more than anything in this world.

Moss, who coached Rajsaun Thompson's father both at Argo and for one year at the University of Iowa, had contact with Rajsaun before his junior season at T.F. South.

"His AAU coach called and said he was trying to help him so he doesn't go down the wrong way," said Moss, who is the athletic director at Carbondale High School. "He told me that Rajsaun had only heard about his father, had never seen any tapes.

"He asked if I had any tapes, and I sent (Rajsaun) and his mother tapes of Raymond. And you know what? A week later he called me and thanked me. I was real pleased. He sounded like a real nice young man when he called me and thanked me.

"I told him, 'Keep your head. Do the right thing.' "

One can only hope that for Thompson and Conway, at age 17, their window of opportunity hasn't closed.

Tony Baranek can be reached at tbaranek@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5947.