LITTLE ITALY — A 35-year-old man was fatally shot Sunday night as he walked into the CHA townhouse complex where he lived with his girlfriend and their toddler son.
Marzel Hicks was entering his home in the 1300 block of West 13th Street about 8 p.m. when he was shot in the chest, police said. He was taken to John H. Stroger Hospital where he died shortly after, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
Hicks lived in one of the row houses connected to the Chicago Housing Authority’s Robert Gates homes. A neighbor in the same complex, Lisa Barnes, said that he lived with his girlfriend and their son, a toddler.
Barnes knew Hicks most of his life; they first met when she moved to the complex in 1990, she said.
He “was a real cool, funny person,” who liked to playfully poke fun at people, Barnes said. Hicks seemed like a loving father, too, she said. He spent a lot of time with his son and took him to outings at Chuck E. Cheese, she said.
Barnes was home the evening Hicks was shot. She dropped to the floor after she heard “five or six” gunshots erupt a few doors down. His death "hurt a lot of people in this neighborhood," she said.
“I just hope they get who did this,” Barnes said, adding that she did not know why anyone would target the 35-year-old father.
Area Central detectives were investigating, but had no one was in custody Monday afternoon.
