CHICAGO — A man was walking outside in Austin when he was fatally shot Monday night, police said.
The man was in the 5500 block of West Potomac Avenue at 6:15 p.m. when someone walked up to him and shot at him, said Officer Ana Pacheco, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.
The man was shot in his back and left leg and taken to Loyola Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Pacheco said.
His name was Joseph Smith and he was 23 years old, said Latoya McMorris, who identified herself as Smith's cousin. Smith was a family man with two younger brothers who he'd take to the movies, McMorris said. He was fun-going, worked hard, went to church and wasn't in a gang, she said.
"He was a good guy. He didn't mess with nobody," McMorris said, crying. "He just wanted to take care of his mom and daddy, his brothers and god-sister."
McMorris spoke outside her home near where Smith was slain. People driving by stopped to offer their condolences and ask about a vigil planned for 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the area.
Smith had started a new job several months before the shooting and was coming home from work when his shooter followed him down an alley and fired at his back, McMorris said. She does not think the shooting was random, though friends who stood with her said Smith's death might be a case of mistaken identity.
Violence isn't common on the block, McMorris said, though some of Smith's friends were wounded in a recent drive-by. Neighbors, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said it had been a "long time" since there was a shooting in the area, but there are gangs. They said they heard shots and there were so many police cars that the block was "lit up" with blue lights when Smith was killed.
One of the neighbors said he wasn't afraid because he was in his home when the shooting occurred.
A home can only keep you safe to a certain extent, he added.
No one is in custody for the shooting.
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