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Uptown Murder Victim Not Likely Intended Target, Neighbors Say

By  Quinn Ford and Adeshina Emmanuel | December 1, 2012 10:56am | Updated on December 1, 2012 1:22pm

 The building in the 5000 block of North Winthrop Avenue where Aswell Selmon lived. Selmon, 46, was gunned down on Friday night just outside the front door.
The building in the 5000 block of North Winthrop Avenue where Aswell Selmon lived. Selmon, 46, was gunned down on Friday night just outside the front door.
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DNAinfo/Quinn Ford

UPTOWN — An Uptown resident was fatally shot Friday night when gunmen approached him in front of his home, authorities said.

Aswell Selmon, 46, was declared dead about 10 p.m. after being shot multiple times outside his residence in the 5000 block of North Winthrop Avenue, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Selmon was standing on the sidewalk about 9:30 p.m. when two males walked up and started shooting toward him and two other men, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at Illinois Masonic Medical Center about 30 minutes after the shooting, the medical examiner's office said.

Selmon's neighbors said Saturday they were shocked to hear he had been killed, and Lisa Kuklinski of Mercy Housing — the company that owns the apartment building where Selmon lived — said he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"At this point, all we can say is that it doesn't appear that he was involved," Kuklinski said.

Kuklinski, who was not on the scene when the shooting occurred, said she believed Selmon had stepped into the crossfire when he left the building.

Two men, who were standing just outside the front door on the sidewalk, were also shot. A 32-year-old man was shot in the left knee and ankle, and the other man, 29, suffered gunshot wounds to his right knee, abdomen and left shoulder, police said.

Fire officials said both men were in critical condition. As of noon Saturday, police could not confirm whether or not the shooting was gang-related.

Neighbors described Selmon as "laid back" and someone who "liked to have a good time." Shelly Jones said Selmon lived alone but had children and grandchildren. She said he liked to cook and was "always smiling."

"If he could help someone, he would," Jones said. "He didn't have much, but what he did have he'd share it."

Another neighbor, Raymond, declined to give his last name because he did not want whoever shot Selmon to know who he was, but he called what happened to his friend a tragedy.

"It really is," he said. "If a man can't stand outside his own place, that's crazy."

Two people were being held for questioning, according to the Tribune.

The fatal shooting happened one day after a gang-related shooting at West Wilson and North Malden avenues left a well-known Black P Stone gang member injured, police said.

For neighbors like Raymond, the recent shootings are reason to move out of the neighborhood.

"I'm about to ready to leave now," he said. "That's too damn close."