Willie Bush, 49, was a contractor who worked everyday but also liked to party, according to relatives.
“I’ve never seen him, in the 20-something years that I knew him, without a smile or a laugh,” said Cleveland Smith, a family friend. “He was always happy.”
Willie Bush died Monday night of injuries he sustained during a Saturday shooting.
Bush died late Monday of injuries he sustained during a shooting Saturday, according to police. Two other men, ages 24 and 39, were wounded in the shooting, which occurred about 11:35 p.m., police said.
A group of people approached the three as they were sitting outside on Bush’s porch. One person asked Bush and the others who had attacked his uncle earlier in the day. When the three told the group they were not involved, at least one person opened fire, police said.
Bush was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital early Tuesday.
Joyce Bush, Willie Bush’s younger sister, said that even though she was outside at the time of the shooting, she did not know what happened.
“You hear gunshots, and you just run and run,” she said.
Smith said Willie Bush was a working man. In his contractor job, he boarded and cleaned up abandoned buildings, Smith said.
“He was definitely not a trouble maker,” Smith said. “If he was, the feelings would be a little bit different.”
John Carpenter, Sun-Times Media-Wire, contributed.