To everyone who knew him, 27-year-old Gentiles Williamson was quiet and studious with a budding career in science, but that was snuffed out Saturday, apparently for little reason.
"Dad I been hit. Call the police."
Those are the last words Aquiles Hood heard his son say before he watched him die.
"It's hard to watch you baby son die. I'm just helpless," Hood said.
The 27-year old was killed in front of his father Saturday afternoon just steps from their East Garfield Park home.
Hood says he and his youngest son were on their way to the barber shop when two men armed with guns approached them in the 3100 block of West Arthington Avenue.
The grieving father says he was talking on his cellphone when he heard his son tell the pair to leave them alone.
"I heard my son say, 'You go ahead with that bull,' then the guy shot him," Hood said.
Hitting Williamson three times in the chest, witnesses say the two attackers then ran away before getting into a grey car that sped eastbound down the street.
"My brother was a very outgoing person just trying to do the right thing at age 27," said Aquiles Hood Jr., the victim's brother.
Williamson had recently graduated from pharmacy school and going to start a new job on Monday working as a pharmacist at Walgreens.
Relatives can't understand why he was targeted because they say he was known along the block as a good kid.
"I know Gentiles. I know my cousin," said Demetrous Nobles. "He wasn't involved in gangs. Whatever it was, it was personal. He worked and he went to school."
Sunday night, investigators have not said if security cameras in the area captured the shooting.
This as a father and a family make a plea for justice.
"Somebody got to know something. They need to step up and tell what they know," Hood said.
Police only have a vague description of the suspects, who are believed to be between the ages of 18 and 21, and have no one is custody for the attack.
