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Man Gunned Down After Telling Teens To Get Off His Porch

By Wendell Hutson | October 18, 2012 11:25am | Updated on October 18, 2012 3:31pm

GRAND CROSSING — An epileptic man who “wouldn’t hurt a fly” was killed after telling a group of teenagers to get away from his South Side porch, his family said Thursday.

On Wednesday evening, Clinton Smith, 39,  noticed a group of people hanging out near his door at an affordable housing complex in the 100 block of East 73rd Street, the victim’s sister Shirley Smith said Thursday.

Around 6:30 p.m., he asked them to go away, police said.

"After Clinton came back inside and sat down, less than two minutes later there was a knock at the door,” his sister said. “When he opened the door, two gunmen started shooting.”

At age 12, Clinton Smith was diagnosed with epilepsy after he was hit in the head with a baseball, "so he rarely went outside other than to go buy cigarettes," said his uncle Keith Smith, who was home at the time of the shooting.

"I was in my bedroom when I heard the shots," his uncle said. "But by the time I came out to the living room all I saw was my nephew laying on the floor. I turned him over and he said ‘Keith I've been shot.’ Then he closed his eyes."

Smith was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he died, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Latoyia Johnson, the victim’s cousin, also lives at the complex.

"I will miss him coming over to my house asking me what am I cooking for dinner and asking for a cigarette,” Johnson said. “I may also move from here because I can't take any more of this shooting.”

Clinton Smith spent much of his time talking to his 15-year-old daughter and playing video games.

"My family and I are making plans to bury my brother and move my uncle out of here,” Shirley Smith said Thursday. “Enough is enough."

Police were still searching for suspects Thursday afternoon.

Tanveer Ali contributed reporting