AUBURN GRESHAM — Kenton Morgan had drive, according to Alan Tapper, his twin brother. He was single-minded when he set himself to doing something.
Tapper had recently been eyeing a fish tank at Golden’s Tropical World, an Auburn Gresham pet store that where Morgan worked on and off for much of the past decade.
Tapper said he had not planned to get the tank until sometime next year, but one day, his brother showed up at his south suburban home with the whole kit.
“He was a person that kept to himself,” Tapper said. “But at the same time everyone could tell that he was a very natural and nice young man."
Morgan, 28, who family say was in the process of legally changing his last name to Tapper, was fatally shot Oct. 25 on the 8000 block of South Halsted Street.
He had worked at the pet shop that morning and was going to get his haircut, according to family.
Morgan’s mother, Angela Griffin, said police told her Morgan was robbed before he was shot.
“Somebody just took his life for no reason, killed him and robbed him,” Griffin said. “This person felt they can just rob somebody and not answer to their crimes. It’s not right.”
Morgan was very family-oriented and doted on his nephews and godchildren, she said.
He was never in the streets and did not run with any gangs, his family said.
He loved animals and had a variety of pets during his life, everything from snakes to alligators and iguanas, according to Eric Golden, a longtime friend whose father owns the pet store where Morgan worked.
“One time he even had a monkey,” Golden recalled.
Bobby Wilson, 16, was arrested in December and charged in Morgan's murder, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.
The teen faces murder and robbery with a firearm charges, according to Tandra Simonton a state's attorney's office spokeswoman.
As the family grapples with Morgan’s loss, Griffin said Morgan’s smile was like a “thousand-watt bulb.”
“It would light the inside of you,” she said. “It was so warm. That’s what comforts me now when I think about him. I see his smiling face.”
