CHICAGO (WLS) — A Chicago family returned home from vacation to heartbreak after an Urban Prep Academy student was shot and killed.
Loved ones told ABC7 that 16-year-old Andre Smith was caught in the crossfire of two groups when he lost his life at the Altgeld Gardens Homes on the Far South Side near 131st & St. Lawrence.
“I just wish I could’ve been there with him,” said his mother, Candace Washington. “I just want him to know he’s not alone. He’s never alone.”
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Smith’s family said he had just got done playing basketball when he was caught in the crossfire of two groups and shot and killed while his family was hundreds of miles away on a trip he was supposed to be on.
“I’m mad that he was taken from me, and I couldn’t be there with him,” his mother said. “They can’t go to the park! He was playing basketball.”
Andre’s mom said he wasn’t able to get off work for their family vacation to Florida. Now she is reeling after the bond between her and her oldest son was forever torn apart.
“His step-sister called me and said, ‘Andre’s shot! He’s not moving,'” Washington said. “They went and got his stepfather. They wouldn’t let anybody approach him, so he died alone.”
Police said someone in a burgundy SUV pulled up and began firing around 4:05 p.m. Sunday near his house at the Altgeld Gardens Homes. Another group then returned fire.
“And he got caught in the middle,” Washington said. “He was trying to run home.”
“Were they trying to target somebody else? We don’t know,” Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said. “The people who, obviously, returned fire at the SUV are not cooperating. We don’t have them identified. So, it’s an open and active homicide investigation with a lot of work to do.”
There are possible answers that could lead to an arrest, but they are hidden within this community that residents say is hurting itself from the inside out.
“So, I’ll never know, and I’ll just be walking amongst the person that killed my baby,” Washington said.
“It’s heartbreaking because the kids – it’s like they don’t have a chance at all, man,” Altgeld Gardens community member Courtney Lewis said. “They don’t have a chance at all. It’s like they’re in a bowl and it’s slowly filling up and nobody’s doing anything about it.”
Smith’s family said Monday they were on their way to identify his body at the medical examiner’s office before beginning the heartbreaking task of planning his funeral.
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