His life being cut short by gun violence is almost too much to bear for Dunning's family, who was already mourning the recent shooting death of another relative.
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"The hardest part about it is to watch what it's doing to my mom, to watch what it's doing to my son, to watch what it's doing to his son," said Roy Shannon Jr., Dunning's older brother.
Shannon said his little brother was active in the lives of his family members. Not only was Dunning a doting father of a 7-year-old son, he was also a nurturing uncle and USPS employee.
"He's been there for my son since day one," Shannon said. "He was a great person, a great father and a great uncle and he was doing a lot for the community and he didn't deserve to die like this. He was a great postal worker."
On Sunday night, Dunning had just dropped off his nephew and was driving home to Hyde Park when the 41-year-old was shot and killed on the Stevenson Expressway ramp to DuSable Lake Shore Drive near McCormick Place around 10:30 p.m.
Dunning's family said police told them that he may have been the target of road rage.
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"OK, it's a road rage incident? You speed around somebody, they speed around you, you throw them the middle finger and you keep going. You don't shoot the car up," Shannon said.
Dunning's death happened as his close-knit family is still reeling from another tragedy.
He is the cousin of 43-year-old Loyce Wright, who was shot and killed last month inside a Family Dollar store on the West Side.
Wright was working as a security guard there, and was a father of four.
Wright's older sister, Robin, was writing his obituary when she got the news about Dunning.
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"I just feel like I've been gutted like a fish," she said. "Just like, Loyce was the baby, Damian was the baby. So to lose the babies. And they're the peace-keepers."
Dunning was a letter carrier for the post office, and an entrepreneur who started a music app.
His family hopes whoever took his life will be brought to justice.
"If you're man enough to take a life, then you're man enough to come forward and confess to it. Let everyone know this is what you did," Shannon said. "I'm angry. I'm angry. I am furious. I feel like I have fire burning on the inside of me."
Employee assistance services are being offered to Dunning's colleagues at the post office in the Clearing neighborhood.
Illinois State Police are investigating this incident. So far, no one is in custody.
USPS released a statement, saying:
"We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of one of our own employees and coworkers. Damian A. Dunning was a Letter Carrier at the Clearing Station in Chicago and with the Postal Service since September 2015. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends, including the many people he worked with at the Postal Service. Employee assistance services are being offered to the family and co-workers."
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