BY CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO AND HANNAH LUTZ
Homicide Watch Chicago
Javan Boyd recently started working a second job as a livery driver to help make ends meet.
Boyd was on the job when he was shot about 4 a.m. Saturday while driving in the 3700 block of South Princeton Avenue — less than two blocks from U.S. Cellular Field, family and authorities said.
Boyd, 28, worked as a food packer in west suburban Woodridge and recently started as a part-time livery driver, said his aunt, Trina Boyd.
The day of the shooting, he had gone to the Armour Square community to pick up a customer, Trina Boyd said.
“He was always hard working, ever since high school,” said Archinese Harris, the mother of his 11-year-old daughter.
Javan Boyd was born in New Orleans, La., and came to Chicago in 1991 when his mother and three siblings moved to the Robert Taylor Homes in the Bronzeville community, Trina Boyd said.
Javan Boyd / Family Photo
Three years later, a fire in the housing project claimed the life of his mother, two sisters and brother, family said. Trina Boyd legally adopted the 9-year-old and raised him.
Javan Boyd loved basketball and played at Wendell Phillips Academy High School, where met with Harris and the pair had a daughter, family said.
“His daughter followed in his footsteps by playing basketball,” Trina Boyd said.
Javan Boyd had been in trouble in the past, and pleaded guilty in 2008 to an aggravated vehicular hijacking charge from Calumet City, but his family said he had turned his life around.
Family members described Javan Boyd as a “clean cut,” “old-school” guy who enjoyed spending time with his daughter. He especially liked taking her bowling and skating.
“[He] did what he had to do at the end of the day,” Trina Boyd said.
In addition to basketball, Javan Boyd also enjoyed playing sports video games and listening to old R&B music, his grandmother, Frankie Boyd said.
She said Javan Boyd enjoyed traveling, and the family was scheduled to go back to New Orleans for a Mardi Gras vacation. Instead, the family is mourning the loss of another relative.
Police said a gunman approached the passenger’s side of the vehicle and shot Boyd in the back and legs.
Javan Boyd Memorial photo By Chase DiFeliciantonio
Boyd, of the 7400 block of South Chappel Avenue, died at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County less than two hours later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
A memorial of signs, balloons, flowers and teddy bears mark the site of the shooting.
Nobody has been charged in the murder. Area Central detectives are investigating.