CHICAGO — A GoFundMe to help the family of Xavier Joy, the slain son of a Change Illinois executive, has raised more than $16,000.
The GoFundMe campaign is meant to support the family of Joy. It had a goal of $12,500 but raised more than $16,000 in just one day. Joy, 23, was shot to death in Woodlawn on Thursday night.
Joy's family thinks he was attacked while being robbed of his cellphone.
Joy played football at Morehouse College and had worked as a special education classroom assistant in the Chicago Public Schools.
Ra Joy, Xavier's father and executive director of Change Illinois, said on Facebook Friday morning that words cannot express the devastating pain and loss the family is feeling.
"Xavier was an incredibly creative, funny and smart young man," Joy said. "We hope and pray for an end to the violence that has impacted our family and so many others in our city."
He said the family is asking for privacy as they grieve.
Neighbors said they found Joy in a parking lot Thursday night in the 6200 block of South Ingleside Avenue, two blocks from his home. They said they saw five gunshot wounds.
Joy, of the 6100 block of South Drexel Avenue, was pronounced dead at 10:23 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
Joy's mother, Nykea Pippion-McGriff, told ABC7 that she believed Joy was shot during a robbery for his phone.
