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Slain Teen Martarese Gentry Wanted to Be Like Derrick Rose, Family Says

By  Mauricio Peña and Josh McGhee | June 17, 2015 7:47am | Updated on June 18, 2015 6:14am

 Martarese Gentry, 15, wanted to be like Derrick Rose, his aunt Tina Gentry said. The teen would often tell his mother,
Martarese Gentry, 15, wanted to be like Derrick Rose, his aunt Tina Gentry said. The teen would often tell his mother, "I'm going to get us out of the hood, mama," Gentry said.
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Lillie Lee

EAST GARFIELD PARK — Martarese Gentry's life revolved around basketball, his family said.

"If he wasn't at Horan Park's basketball court, he was at the center off California and Gladys playing basketball," his aunt Tina Gentry said. "It was his life."

"Derrick Rose was his idol," she said. "He wanted to be just like him."

The teen would often tell his mother, "I'm going to get us out of the 'hood, mama," Gentry said.

On Tuesday, the 15-year-old Gary Comer College Prep freshman was gunned down in North Lawndale after leaving his home to hang out with a friend.

Around 5:40 p.m., Martarese was with a group that gathered in the 1400 block of South Millard Avenue watching two women fight, said Officer Ron Gaines, a Chicago Police spokesman.

During the fight, a man walked up to the group and opened fire, shooting the teen in his chest. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Gaines said.

Martarese, of the 800 block of South Kedzie Avenue, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., according to the Cook Country Medical Examiner's Office.

No one is in custody for the shooting, Gaines said.

According to family members, the teen was on a porch when the fight broke out between two women. Martarese wasn't one to be embroiled in street problems, his family members said.

"He was a peaceful, loving boy," his grandmother Joanne Armstrong said. "He would always tell me that people need to stop fighting. ... He didn't believe in violence."

Martarese's cousin Devon Lee rushed to alert his family after a friend told him that Martarese had been shot.

"We couldn't believe it," Gentry said. "I rushed to his mother's house to tell her what I had just heard, but as soon as I told her she fell down the stairs."

Family members were grieving Wednesday after the tragic incident that cut Martarese's life short.

The family had moved away from Chicago six years earlier to get away from the violence that claimed the life of Martarese's father at Horan Park, Gentry said.

The family returned to Chicago from suburban Harvey, last year with his mother and siblings to be closer to family, his aunt Lillie Lee said.

His family described Martarese as a protector of his younger siblings and cousin.

"He always looked out for them," Gentry said. "Helping them with their homework, and cleaning up the house."

"This is crazy," Gentry said. "Never in a million years would I think this is would happen because all he wanted to do was have fun and play basketball," Gentry said. "He was a good boy."

"They're killing innocent children out here," his grandmother added. "He was our all-star."

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