Mondele Heard / Photo from Facebook
BY KALEY FOWLER
Homicide Watch Chicago
Mondele Heard was a talented musician who loved to sing and dance, his friends said.
“He was just starting to get into rapping, but before that he loved to sing R&B and sometimes gospel,” said friend Briana Davis. “Singing was his thing. He could really sing.”
Heard’s singing career came to an abrupt end Monday night when gunfire erupted in the Ashburn community.
Heard, 20, was standing with a group in the 7800 block of South Homan Avenue when a maroon car pulled up, a gunman exited and opened fire about 8:40 p.m. Monday, authorities said.
Heard, of the 7800 block of South Sawyer Avenue, was shot in the head and died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, authorities said. A 23-year-old woman and 24-year-old man were also wounded.
Another friend, Julian Smith, said Heard played high school football and trombone in the school’s jazz band.
“[Heard] was never afraid to be himself,” Davis said. “He did what he wanted to do and he was his own person. He was very outgoing, very smart and very real.”
Friend Christian Jefferson added that Heard was as a loyal friend who “wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“He was a really peaceful guy,” Smith said. “I can’t recall him ever getting into it with anybody. He wasn’t violent at all.”
Davis said all of Heard’s friends were shocked by his death, and she believes the shooting was random.
“I know for a fact Mondele was not into gangbanging and he did not shoot guns,” Davis said. “Mondele was not a bad kid. Nobody deserves to die, especially somebody like Mondele.”
Nobody has been charged for the murder. Area South detectives are investigating.