Travis Wright / Photo from Instagram
BY KENNY NGUYEN
Homicide Watch Chicago
Travis Wright was always helping others.
From helping coach local sports teams to helping his grandmother run errands, Wright always put others first, his godfather said.
Wright was even taking psychology classes at Kennedy King College in hopes of completing perquisites before transferring to a four-year institution to study clinical health therapy, said Wright’s godfather, Eric Harwell.
“He got to see a lot of what I do as a health therapist, and I got a chance to talk to him a lot about it,” Harwell said. “After that experience, he also wanted to work in that field.”
Wright, 21, will never get that chance after he was fatally shot Oct. 18 outside his home in the 9300 block of South Wentworth Avenue, authorities said.
As a youth, Wright was a “phenomenal” child who loved playing sports — especially football and track, Harwell said.
“You would think kids would want to make it their career, but he didn’t,” Harwell said. “His idea of sports was that he’ll do sports but will only coach because he wanted to be a part of helping kids do better in their lives.
“He was a good kid — joyful and really good spirited and believed in God. He was not on drugs or in gangs and was never arrested. He was interested in helping make peoples lives better by talking to them and helping them work through their problems.”
Prior to being shot, Wright was visiting friends in Michigan, but returned earlier than expected at the request of his grandmother, Harwell said.
“His grandmother needed to go to the doctor on Friday, and so he drove back from Michigan on a Thursday so that he can drive his grandmother around to all of her appointments,” Harwell said.
After dropping his grandmother off in Riverdale, Wright drove back to his Roseland home, Harwell said. That is when gunfire erupted just after midnight and Wright was shot multiple times in the backseat of the car, authorities said.
Wright’s mother had been waiting for him to come home and heard the gunfire, Harwell said.
“His car was still running and parked in front of her house,” Harwell said. “When she ran down there, she could see he was slumped over in the back seat of the car. She asked him what’s going on and saw blood coming out of his mouth.”
Harwell said he does not know why Wright was in the back seat.
“Who knows what happened. Did he stop at the gas station to get some gas and somebody overpowered him or did he drive home and somebody caught up with him?” Harwell asked.
“The best way to sum it up, Travis was a young man that was trying to live right but he ended up dying wrong,” he said.
Nobody has been charged for the murder.
Area South detectives are investigating.