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Teen Fatally Shot in South Side Harold's Chicken Shack

By Quinn Ford | May 14, 2013 6:40am | Updated on May 14, 2013 9:11am
 Brandon Byars, 19, and Deandre Calahan, 27, were killed in separate shootings Monday night, authorities said.
Two Killed in Grand Crossing, Roseland Shootings
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CHICAGO — Two men were killed in separate shootings Monday night on the city's South Side, including a teenager hit by bullets inside a Harold's Chicken Shack restaurant.

Brandon Byars, 19, was shot multiple times in his back in the city's Grand Crossing neighborhood, police said. He was inside a Harold's in the 400 block of East 79th Street when shots were fired outside about 6:15 p.m. Monday, according to Officer Hector Alfaro, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.

Byars, of the 7800 block of South Eberhart Avenue, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just after 7 p.m., authorities said.

Tuesday morning, neighbors said they were still trying to figure out exactly why Byars was shot.

Michelle, a next-door neighbor who declined to give her last name, said she was a year older than Byars and grew up playing with him in her front yard. She described the teen as a curious kid.

"When he was little, he was really smart," she said.

Michelle said she was at home Monday night when she heard six or seven shots ring out in the neighborhood.

"Everybody could hear it," she said. "Whoever was looking for him, they found him."

Neighbors said Byars may have been involved in gangs but said he was a good person who did not deserve to die.

When asked if it was the first time some one had been shot in her neighborhood, Michelle laughed.

"It's not too often, but something like this always happens at the beginning of the summer or during the summer," she said.

A young man sitting on the stoop of Byars' home Tuesday morning said he lived with Byars and Byars' older brother. The man declined to give his name but said he woke up to the news his friend had been shot and killed.

He said Byars gangbanged a little bit and "just got caught up in some bulls---" that led to him being gunned down.

Hours after Byars was shot, 27-year-old Deandre Calahan was shot and killed in the Roseland neighborhood.

About 10:15 p.m., he was walking with two women in the 200 block of West 93rd Street when a gunman approached the group and opened fire, hitting him several times, Alfaro said.

Calahan, of the 8600 block of South Kimbark Avenue, was pronounced dead at the medical examiner's office about 1 a.m.

As of Tuesday morning, no one was in custody in connection with either shooting, Alfaro said.