A man who tried to flee from a gunman early Friday — but instead crashed his car into a West Pullman garage — has been identified.
Dionta West, 38, was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 9:29 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police said the man was getting into his car outside his home in the 600 block of West 117th when a gunman approached and opened fire about 5:45 a.m. He was shot twice.
He had no known gang ties and only some minor criminal history — “nothing of significance,” the source said.
Neighbors said he prized his rust-color 1991 Chevrolet Caprice with the sparkling 24-inch silver rims, a car that now sat crumpled under bricks.
“That’s a show car,” said Michelle Grasker, 34.
Nona Wilburn, 84, was asleep when she shouted to wake her husband, Daniel, 86, after hearing the crash. Daniel Wilburn at first thought the noise was someone flying over speed bumps in the street, not someone crashing into their garage in the 11600 block of South Lowe.
“The Bible says don’t be surprised — terrible things are going to happen. But it doesn’t say anything about the garage,” said Nona Wilburn.
As Daniel Wilburn surveyed the shattered bricks strewn around his neatly clipped yard with the little fountain, he stared at the parts that he used to repair neighbors’ lawnmowers.
“Young people. They terrible. They living in another world,” he said.
- Sun-Times Media Wire