Family mourns after man shot to death during Englewood block party: ‘This one hurt my soul’

CHICAGO - Hundreds were gathered on an Englewood neighborhood block early Sunday morning to celebrate a man’s 80th birthday party when gunfire erupted, sending those in attendance running for safety.

When residents returned shortly after 1 a.m., a man, said to be 26 by someone who knew him, was slumped against a fence on a sidewalk in the 5700 block of South Carpenter Street with gunshot wounds to his head and body, Chicago police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hundreds were gathered on the block with a DJ and multiple charcoal grills to celebrate a neighbor’s 80th birthday, according to a witness at the scene who declined to be named.

The witness, a 31-year-old woman, and the man were standing outside in the crowd just before the shooting, when she left to go buy cigarettes, she told the Chicago Sun-Times.

She heard up to a dozen shots ring out before running to her car and driving off in the opposite direction. At least 12 evidence markers could be seen on the sidewalk near the man’s body, which was covered with a white sheet.

"Everyone left the scene when they started shooting, he’s the only one not with us, that’s how we know," she said.

No one was in custody.

Tensions temporarily rose between officers and family at the scene as they tried to confirm the identity of the man who had been fatally shot.

"They won’t even let me see his body," the man’s mother said, in tears, on a FaceTime call. "They could at least let me hold his hand."

As supporters rubbed her back and hugged her, officers tried to explain to the man’s mother that family couldn’t enter the crime scene for fear of disturbing evidence.

"If it was y’all’s kid, what would y’all do?" the 31-year-old woman asked the officer.

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"If I could let you over there, I would, but I just can not," the officer responded.

The woman described the man, who she had known since she was 14 years old, as a "nice person who came to her house to wrestle and play video games" with her younger brother. She added that he "grieved a lot" and recently lost a close friend in a shooting. He also leaves behind a young daughter, according to the woman.

"This one hurt my soul," another woman at the scene said.

One man, who lived in the neighborhood for three years, had just gotten back from work and was looking on from his porch with his 11-year-old stepson as officers were investigating.

He said he’s never seen anything like the shooting in the area, adding that the neighborhood consisted of mostly older residents who occasionally held peaceful parties.

A woman who identified herself as "Mrs. Collins" has lived on the block for decades. She stood on her porch looking over the crime tape as officers investigated. She said she was sleeping when the gunfire erupted, but her daughter heard the shots.

"I’m still praying," she repeated as she walked back into her house.