D’Monte Smith / Photo from Twitter
BY MATT McCALL
Homicide Watch Chicago
Architecture student D’Montre Smith dreamed of designing a skyscraper for Chicago’s skyline, family said.
As a child, Smith once built an igloo with his three brother’s in the front yard, family said.
But the 21-year-old never got the chance to design actual buildings, as he was fatally shot in the Washington Heights neighborhood Monday night.
Smith was standing in the 10200 block of South May Street when a dark car drove past and someone inside opened fire, authorities said.
Smith brother, Torrence Smith, described him as a leader amongst his friends. At the time of his death, he was working at FedEx and attending City Colleges of Chicago, where he studied architecture.
D’Montre Smith had attended Marcus Garvey Elementary School and graduated from Simeon Career Academy. He later enrolled at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss. He left after one year, and came back to Chicago.
“He’d always tell his friends to get away [from Chicago’s violence],” Torrence Smith said.
His mother, Karol Smith, said he was on his way to his girlfriend’s house when he was shot. She believes his death was a case of mistaken identity.
“My son didn’t deserve this,” she said. “The people taking other people’s lives, they need Jesus.
Smith, who lived on the block, was shot in the chest and police found him lying in a gangway, authorities said.
He was later declared dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Nobody has been charged for the killing.
Area South detectives are investigating.