Walmart employee fatally shot in Bedford Park ID'd as Stephen Sims, 20

BEDFORD PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- Police are searching for the gunman who shot and killed 20-year-old Stephen Sims, a Walmart associate, in the parking lot of his store in southwest suburban Bedford Park.

"The chaplain came into the room with a doctor and they said they tried to revive him, and they couldn't do it," Doris Sims, victim's grandmother.

A day later, his grandmother is still in a state of shock. Sims had avoided the gangs that kept trying to recruit him his whole life.

His family believes it was gang members who killed him - the same young men who had been sending him death threats on the phone.

"They kept calling his phone and making these death threats to him," said Doris Sims.

Sims was in college hoping to go into law enforcement. He'd already seen a great deal of violence in his life. His mother was killed when he was just 2 years old, and his 5-year-old brother and stepmother were shot to death in 2013.

The men who approached Sims at his car in the parking lot Thursday night fired at least six shots.

On Friday, family and friends gathered to try to comfort each other and remember a man they say who loved to read and write, loved sports and his family, and who had a bright future.

"It's a tragedy and a travesty. It's both," said Jarvis Handy Sr., a pastor.

Police say they are investigating but have no one in custody.

Family members say they've been told Walmart security cameras captured video of the shooting and even though the three suspects were wearing masks they're hoping that video will help police.