CHICAGO — Kelvin Davis' aunt and cousin talked until 3 a.m. Saturday, recalling their favorite memories of Davis, who was gunned down near his home Friday evening. The two talked at length about Davis' endless love of music.
"He would rap every day, all day long and made his own beats," said his aunt, who declined to be named. "He used music to express himself and describe what he saw on the streets."
According to his family, the 24-year-old was heading to Atlanta in July where he had a record deal lined up.
"He was finally blossoming, and then this happened," his aunt said.
Around 5:30 p.m., Davis was standing on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of East 75th Street when he was shot in his neck and chest. The shooters drove away in a gray four-door Pontiac, police said.
Davis, of the 7500 block of South Dorchester Avenue, was pronounced dead at Jackson Park Hospital at 6:15 p.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said.
"I had just got home and was making a call when I heard six to eight shots," said a woman who lived near the shooting site.
"When I came outside, a young man was on the ground in a pool of blood surrounded by a small group of people," the woman, who wished not to be named, said. "The police got here immediately, but it took the ambulance about 15 minutes to get here.
"This is a huge issue. It happens constantly. People need to stop shooting each other," she said.
When Davis' aunt heard about the shooting, she rushed around the block and saw her nephew lying in his own blood, she said.
"I was yelling, hollering, trying to get him to respond to me, but I knew he was gone," she said. "He had been shot several times."
After the shooting, Davis' family members wondered what happened and who could have done it.
According to his family, Davis had just left his girlfriend's home and was walking home when he was shot.
"I don't know who would do this," another family member who did not want to be named said. "He was a good-hearted boy who was never disrespectful or aggressive toward anyone."
"People stereotype you based on the neighborhood you live in. They assume because you live in this block or that block you were part of a certain gang," the family member added. "You don't have to do anything [gang-related], but people make assumptions based on the neighborhood where he lived that he was in."
In the last month, Davis had started working, going to church and had attended a "Stop the Violence" rally after 16-year-old Amari Sutton was killed on nearby 73rd Street, the family member said.
"Everyone has trials and tribulations, but he had started working construction with one of his friends and was scheduled to start a second job," his aunt said. "He was trying to do something positive, and then this happened."
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