Nineteen-year-old Kevin Baker died on Saturday after he was shot Thursday night. On Monday, family and friends passed out flyers in the Chicago Lawn community on the Southwest Side, hoping someone will come forward with information about the crime.
Police are looking for two male suspects who were parked in a van near the corner of 62nd and South Campbell Avenue in Gage Park. They walked up to Kevin and his 22-year-old cousin Dominique, demanding their cell phones. After the pair handed them over, one suspect fired two shots, hitting Kevin in the head and the stomach. Eyewitness News spoke with Kevin's mother about the search for the gunmen.
Kevin's Baker's room is untouched. His mother Nina can't bring herself to move a thing. She has lost her only child -- a young man who excelled, who looked gangs and drugs in the face and said, "not me."
"He had fights. Eighteen people jumped him. He had fights on the bus to try to make him a gangbanger and he never ever let them change who he was," said Nina Baker.
Kevin also looked out for his cousin Dominique. They traveled home together, counting on safety in numbers the night they were robbed.
Kevin and his cousin weren't even a block away from home when he was shot. His mother was waiting on the porch for the pair to get home. She heard the gunfire, followed by Dominique's screams.
"I ran down there. All the time I'm focusing on Dominique. Never did I want to look down and see that's my big old baby down there. So, I see Dominique. I see my baby. I see my baby in there. Oh lord, have mercy. And he's trying to talk to me. I said, 'Don't leave me baby. Please don't leave your mama,'" said Nina Baker.
Kevin's family is grief-stricken and determined to find the men who killed him. They're urging community members to pick up the phone with any information they may have, as this woman did the night Kevin was shot.
"You got these guys running around here gang banging. Not trying to have no type of future. But they still walking around here. He was in college, trying to make something out of his self. Now he's dead," said Barbara, who called 911.
"It's not going to stop just because you shot my baby. If you on this street, you going to do it to somebody else. Somebody else is going to be sitting in my spot screaming or hollering about they precious baby. I think that's wrong," said Nina Baker.
Dominique says they handed over their cell phones immediately. One of the suspects then turned to Kevin and asked - "What you is?" – or, which gang are you with. Kevin replied with just a 'huh?' and was shot.
Anybody with information to assist with the investigation, which is ongoing, can call 1-800-U-TELL-US.
