CHICAGO — The father of a 7-month-old boy was fatally shot in Auburn Gresham Wednesday afternoon.
The man, later identified as William "Noah" Jones, 26, was shot some time after 1 p.m. while sitting in a car in the 8700 block of South Loomis Street, said Officer Veejay Zala, police spokesman.
Jones, who lived in the 7800 block South Emerald Avenue, was pronounced dead on the scene at 1:31 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
Marcia Toby, Jones' mother-in-law, held his infant son as police continued to investigate the man's body four hours after his death. Friends and family waited in shock while the man's arm was lifted, uncovered and seemingly finger-printed, though police attempted to block a full view with a large sheet of brown paper.
A woman, who identified herself as a long-time neighbor and a relative akin to a "godmother" of Jones, said he had just finished washing her car when two black SUVs had approached the block.
Jones had just gotten into his own car when at least one gunman emerged from one of the SUVs and began firing 12 to 15 shots before fleeing southbound, she said.
"We were just out with him last night," Toby said as Jones' son, William Jones III but called "Noah Jr." by family members, sat in the back seat of her car, about 30 feet from where his father's body lay covered with a white sheet.
The family had been planning a barbecue for the Fourth of July, Toby said. Jones, "a finicky eater," had been up until 1:30 a.m. prepping fish sticks and other party foods.
While some witnesses said the two SUVs appeared to be following Jones prior to the shooting, Toby said her grandson wasn't involved in any gang activity.
"He lived with my daughter, and I wouldn't have that," she said. "He was a good guy — don't let anyone say anything different."
"He always had a Coke and a smile," she added, referencing a Coca-Cola advertisement from the 1980s.
Nearly a dozen of the man's friends and family members, including his sister, continued to wait in the rain as investigators surveyed the scene at about 5 p.m.
"It's going on four hours now and he's still lying there," Toby said, while prepping a bottle for Jones' son. "My daughter deserves the respect to hear that her baby's father is there dead."
No further details were immediately available as of 5:45 p.m., shortly after Jones' body was removed from the scene.
