Man fatally shot in head outside Chicago violence prevention center

CHICAGO - A man fatally shot Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of a South Side outreach center run by Chicago CRED was a participant in the violence prevention organization.

At about 12:16 p.m., a 28-year-old man was walking near a parking lot in the 1000 block of East 95th Street when he was approached by two unknown offenders who produced a handgun and fired shots, Chicago police said.

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The victim was shot in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Chicago CRED is led by former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Peter Cunningham, a spokesman for Duncan, said the victim was a participant in CRED, which stands for Create Real Economic Destiny and provides therapy, job placement services and programming for men who are at high risk of being perpetrators or victims of gun violence.

The man’s brother is also involved in the program.

Duncan, who once served as the chief executive of Chicago Public Schools, had left the outreach center minutes before the shooting, Cunningham said.

Duncan released a statement saying "we lost to gun violence a young man who had been with our program for the last 9 months. He came to us because he wanted a way out of his life on the streets and had made great progress toward that goal."

Duncan said the death "is a reminder that we have so much more work to do to make Chicago a safe city with meaningful economic opportunities for everyone regardless of their background. Our thoughts go to his family and friends as well our staff that has been traumatized by the loss."

CRED has video surveillance footage that’s being provided to police, Cunningham said.

There are no offenders in custody. Area detectives are investigating.

Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.