BY EMILY BROSIOUS AND KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago
Jeremiah Shaw was a loner who avoided gangs, family and friends said.
That is why they were shocked when he was fatally shot Aug. 6 while smoking a cigarette outside his aunt’s home in the 5400 block of South Laflin Street in the Back of the Yards community, authorities and family said.
Shaw’s aunt, Samiesha Kent, said she was in her bedroom when she heard the early morning gunshots.
Officers found Shaw, of the 5900 block of South Wabash Avenue, lying on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head, authorities said. He died at the scene.
Family friend Joseph Payton said Shaw, 18, kept to himself and didn’t clash with others.
“They shouldn’t even have shot that boy,” Payton said. “They must have thought he was somebody else.”
Payton added that Shaw was a “real good kid” who helped others.
“He was like my son to me,” Payton said. “He’d come down and check on me every morning to see if I needed anything and I’d send him to the store for groceries and stuff. He helped me out a lot.”
Shaw, the second oldest of four children, also looked out for his two younger sisters by making sure they had food to eat, Kent said.
Jeremiah Shaw / Photo from Twitter
“He always loved his family, always liked being around us,” Kent said. “He was a good kid. He wasn’t involved in all the stuff these kids are doing, robbing and stuff. He wasn’t doing that.”
When Shaw had free time he enjoyed rapping and collaborating with other local musicians in the studio, said Kent, who added that Shaw had a great sense of humor and loved to joke around.
Nobody has been charged for the murder.
Area Central detectives are investigating.