Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Father of Four Gunned Down Near His Home

By Geoff Ziezulewicz | October 31, 2012 3:00pm

SOUTH CHICAGO — Family and friends of Carlos Alexander gathered near a makeshift memorial on the South Side Tuesday to remember a cool, magnetic guy that everyone wanted to hang out with.

Alexander, 33, was shot and killed Monday morning in the 7900 block of South Escanaba Avenue, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. Police said he was walking outside his home about 10:30 a.m. when he was approached by two unknown offenders who opened fire before fleeing on foot.

“He didn’t deserve what happened to him,” said longtime friend Leonard Thomas. “He wasn’t into the streets. He took care of his family.”

Thomas said he he had known Alexander since they were 7, when they both lived one block over on South Muskegon Avenue. Flanked by a half-deflated balloon and a Mickey Mouse doll, Thomas signed a board already full of hand-written messages.

He said he was still getting his head around the loss of a friend he called ‘Los. Growing up, the two friends had sleepovers nearly every night. As grown men, they loved football, constantly playing Madden and cheering on their beloved Chicago Bears. Alexander, who was reportedly returning from a corner store when he was gunned down, was also a father of four.

“I’m taking it hard,” Thomas said of his friend’s loss. “I couldn’t even work today.”

Alexander's murder was the 436th homicide of the year in Chicago and a murder that puts the city above its total for all of 2011.

An investigation is ongoing, police said.