The shooting happened in the Rogers Park neighborhood's 7500 block of North Damen Avenue at about 8:51 p.m., police said. Officers responded to a call of a person shot, and found an unresponsive man inside a residence.
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The victim, shot in the head, was transported in critical condition to St. Francis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The victim has been identified as Kelvin Lee.
Lee's family said the 37-year-old father had plans to join the family business. His uncle adding that his nephew solidified those plans hours before his death.
Anthony Jones shared a screenshot of a video chat he had with his nephew.
At the time, the pair finalized Lee's train ticket to Champaign for this weekend, where Lee had plans to join his uncle and their growing family business.
"He was on a new path to success," Jones said.
But mere hours after the conversation Friday night, Chicago Police found Lee shot in the head in a Roger's Park apartment and he later died after he was taken to a hospital.
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"I don't know how I'm gonna get over this," said Lee's mother, Kathy Ajighevi. "I know I'm not gonna get over this. I need him right now."
Lee's mother and family set up a memorial with balloons and candles outside the building where the shooting happened near Birchwood and Damen Avenue.
"We lost a brother, we lost a father, we lost a friend. We lost someone who be there for you. Anything you ask of him? He'll do it," Jones said.
Lee's family said last they heard, he went to the apartment Friday night to visit a friend. What happened in the moments leading up to his death is still a mystery.
Jessica Bernardi lives in the building and said that night she heard the shots and saw someone running away.
"I heard a bunch of noises and woke up," Bernardi said. "Heard somebody run very quickly and loudly down the stairs and flew out the door."
Bernardi is still processing what she saw after she called for help.
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"While I was on 911, I heard the tenant upstairs crying and yelling, and I went up and her door was open and I looked in and she was holding the deceased, crying for him," Bernardi said.
Police said the woman inside the residence was taken in for questioning.
Lee's family hope investigators will bring their family justice, vowing to do everything in their power to find peace in this tragedy.
"I'm going to look at everything. Turn every garbage can over, every car door -- whatever I need to do as a mother to see what happened to my son," Ajighevi said.
Chicago Police have not provided further details on the person of interest, other than to say no charges have been filed at this point.
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