Boy, 11, found shot to death inside West Pullman apartment, police say

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police are investigating after an 11-year-old boy was found fatally shot in the West Pullman neighborhood Monday morning.

Officers responded to a two-story brick apartment building in the 900-block of West 119th Street at about 1 a.m. after receiving an EMS call for an unresponsive child, police said.

When officers arrived, they discovered the boy lying on the floor of an apartment with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

The boy was identified as Jechon Anderson and his death was ruled a homicide.

Jechon's mother and other family members went to Area South police headquarters to try to get information about what happened. They said they had not been alerted to his death by the police, but rather a friend called them after seeing a news report.

"We heard on the news several different stories. We just want to get, just find out exactly what happened," said Pamela Pittman, aunt.

Crime scene technicians scoured the second-floor apartment for nearly six hours. Investigators are looking into all possibilities, including that the shooting may have resulted from a domestic situation.

Pittman said Jechon had been staying with his father in the West Pullman apartment for the past few months. He was the second-youngest of five siblings, and loved basketball and video games.

It is incomprehensible to his relatives why someone would want him dead.

"Just trying to find out what happened and why somebody would actually do something like that to a baby, a sweet baby like that," Pittman said.

Family members at the scene were in shock, as was neighbor Marcus Daniels.

"I'd trade places with him if I could, really," Daniels said. "Just to let him grow up."

Bill Roberts works for Phalanx Family Services across the street and said he wished he could have helped.

"It's heartbreaking, it's heartbreaking. We as human beings we have no more, no more value for life," Roberts said. "It's sad. It's not just this neighborhood, man. It's every neighborhood."

His mother was totally inconsolable.

"It's just a bad situation. A bad situation. We're trying to hold together," Pittman said.

Police said they were questioning three people Monday morning. No arrests had been made and no charges have been filed.