Devonte Carthan / Photo from Twitter
BY KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago
High school student Devonte Carthan always “made sure he got his grades right” and hoped to use college as a way out of the Altgeld Gardens community, a friend said.
“He wanted to get out of the neighborhood and experience life on his own,” said friend Amirius Clinton, 19. “He always brought up wanting to leave the neighborhood.”
Carthan, 17, won’t get the chance as he was fatally shot late Aug. 12 while riding a bicycle in the 9200 block of South Dobson Avenue in the Burnside community, according to authorities.
Police said a silver car drove up and somebody inside opened fire. Carthan, of the 13200 block of South Langley Avenue, died at Advocate Trinity Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Carthan attended Harlan High School, where he was a point guard on the basketball team and hoped to attend Northeastern Illinois University, Clinton said.
“He saw that there were guys who came from where he came from and could make something of themselves and get something out of life other than violence, gangs and drugs,” Clinton said. “He saw there was another side of life that’s not what he sees every day in the neighborhood.”
Another friend, who is not being identified because she is a minor, described Carthan as an outgoing teen with a good sense of humor. Clinton added that Carthan was a kind-hearted teen who wanted the best for everybody.
“He would greet you with open arms, and he didn’t have anger against anybody,” Clinton said. “He was a young kid striving to be better and his life was stolen from him.”
As news of Carthan’s death spread, friends took to social media to express their condolences:
Nobody has been charged for the murder. Area Central detectives are investigating if the shooting was gang related.