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Father of 2-Year-Old Killed on Walk to Chinese Restaurant

By Josh McGhee | February 26, 2015 7:56am
 Malcolm Tompkins, 25, of the 5600 block of South Peoria Street, was found shot to death a block away from his home.
Malcolm Tompkins, 25, of the 5600 block of South Peoria Street, was found shot to death a block away from his home.
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ENGLEWOOD — All it took was a call from her son's go-to Chinese restaurant, New China Wok, to let Fancie Tompkins know something terrible had happened.

Friday evening, Tompkins ordered dinner for her son, Malcolm Tompkins, and gave him a couple of bucks to go pick it up, but he never came home, she said.

"The restaurant called and said that he hadn't picked up the order. We're only two blocks away, and he's a fast walker," Tompkins said, remembering the tragic evening days later. "We sat there for hours just waiting for him to come home."

Malcolm Tompkins, 25, never came home. As his mom and family waited in their home in the 5600 block of South Peoria Street, he lay fatally shot barely a block away.

An officer searches for bullet casings after the fatal shooting. DNAinfo/Paul Marik

Around 5:46 p.m., police responded to a call of shots fired and found Malcolm Tompkins unresponsive in the back of a building in the 5600 block of South Green Street, police said.

He was pronounced dead at 6:41 p.m. at Stroger Hospital. He was shot multiple times, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Tompkins said her son couldn't have been out of her house for more than five minutes when he was shot. She said she didn't know why he was targeted.

"He didn't hang around with anyone around my house and didn't know anyone around here. He didn't have people stopping by here. We don't do that," she said.

An officer investigating the shooting in Englewood Friday evening. DNAinfo/Paul Marik

According to police, Malcolm Tompkins was a gang member and convicted felon.

His mother recalled him as a devoted father who spent hours watching "SpongeBob" with his 2-year-old son, and as a hard worker never afraid to lend a hand to help someone in need, she said.

"He loved his son, that was his heart. He made sure he was taken care of. He really loved that baby," she said. "Everybody loved my son. He had this permanent smile on his face all the time. I'm not sure if he was ever unhappy. If you were sad he was going to make you happy."

She readily admitted that her son had flaws.

"He wasn't a perfect person. Who is perfect? Nobody is perfect. Does that mean he doesn't deserve life because he has a record?" his mom said. She said she's doubting the thoroughness of the police investigation after going days without talking to detectives.

Despite living only a block away from the spot where her son was shot Friday, Tompkins learned of the shooting from the mother of her grandson.

Tompkins said she held off on notifying family members because she expected to talk to a detective to confirm her son's death. That detective never showed up. Instead, she reached out to him by phone Sunday, she said.

"If they're investigating the case, how come they didn't contact me? They haven't asked us anything. Wouldn't you come and ask us something? If there is an investigation, why aren't you asking questions to people who may know the answers?" Tompkins said.

According to a Chicago Police Department spokesman, officers use several methods to contact family, including emergency contacts listed in cellphones and the home address listed on ID cards. There is no written protocol on who should be notified first, the spokesman said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner listed Tompkins' home address as the same as his mothers.

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