CHATHAM — Hammood Dawoudi, 23, was just opening the door to his apartment building when a gunman looking for a different man shot him dead, according to police and a neighbor.
Around 9:55 p.m. Thursday, Dawoudi and a yet-unidentified 20-year-old man were in an apartment building in the 7900 block of South State Street when someone knocked on the door and asked for the 20-year-old, said Officer Janel Sedevic, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.
When the men opened the door, the gunman fired shots before running northbound, police said. Dawoudi was shot multiple times, and the 20-year-old was shot in his leg and shoulder. The men were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where Dawoudi was pronounced dead at 10:46 p.m., and the other man was listed in fair condition, police and the Medical Examiner's office said.
According to police, the 20-year-old is a gang member.
Dawoudi, who lived in the building with his girlfriend and his toddler, was an innocent bystander when he was shot, said a neighbor who wished not to be named.
"This is f---ing crazy," the neighbor said. "He [didn't] cause any problems. He [didn't] mess with anyone. He was a good dude."
According the neighbor, an argument was heard at the basement apartment a night before the shooting.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting shocked the neighbor who has known Dawoudi for three years. "I could say he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that's wrong because he lived here, he didn't deserve it," the man said. "It makes me mad because he was just opening the front door of the building, it could have been me, it could have been one of my kids. It's crazy."
The neighbor said Dawoudi was an aspiring rapper who went by the name Solo. He would often sit on the staircase of the apartment complex writing lyrics and "spitting rhymes," he said.
The morning of the shooting, the neighbor said Dawoudi had reached out to him asking him if he could help him find a job. "The only time he was out was when he was looking for a job, or spending time outside with his girlfriend and his baby boy."
The neighbor and his family were devastated to hear the news. "It's f----ed up," the man said. "It's never gonna stop because it's too easy to get a gun on the street. It's like walking into a store and buying a lollipop."
"We have a lost generation, we have to overcome this," he said.
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