Dale Fisher had just left a recreational center run by the city's CeaseFire organization when he was gunned down in Chicago's West Woodlawn neighborhood.
Fisher's family and friends says he had stayed out of gangs.
Police have not confirmed a motive for the drive-by shooting that claimed Fisher's life.
"He's supposed to have been safe on 63rd Street. It didn't make sense for them to kill him over there," said Willie Green Jr., Fisher's stepfather.
Witnesses tell the police the attack happened around 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon as the teen and his friend walked near 62nd and South Saint Lawrence Avenue. Friends say the two were headed to a corner store to buy a bag of potato chips when a two-door silver car pulled up, a gunman leaned out and opened fire, striking Dale in the chest several times. The other teen was not hurt.
"He didn't have any enemies. He wasn't that type of kid. He wasn't out in these streets gangbanging or carrying a gun," said Stephen Moody, CeaseFire.
Moody says he got to know the teen nicknamed "Squirrel" by his friends after he became a regular at the local recreational center where he came almost every day to play video games and watch YouTube videos of local rappers.
"He was a goofy kid, funny. He'll make you laugh. He never really had no problems. He was like our little mascot at CeaseFire," said Moody.
The Fisher family also says Fisher was not in a gang and chose not to hang in the family's new Chatham neighborhood but in the area where he was killed because that's where he grew up and that's where most of his friends still lived.
"I wanted him to be a leader and not a follower. He was a respectful kid. He really was and he didn't mean no harm to nobody," said Green.
After the attack, Fisher died at the hospital.
On Monday, a single bicycle wheel, tokens and messages of loves stand in remembrance of the Hyde Park Academy High School student who loved to tinker with bikes and cars. Meanwhile, a mother mourns a son lost.
"Why take mine? That was all I had," said Romana Fisher, mother.
Dale Fisher's family along with many of those who knew him say they believe his death is the result of mistaken identity.
No one is in custody for the crime.
