Family and friends gathered in Harvey Wednesday night for a prayer vigil for a Morgan Park High School student who was shot and killed the night before.
Treyvon Winfield, 19, was in a car when a man approached him and opened fire on his vehicle, police said. Winfield was taken to Roseland Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
His mother, Felicia Winfield, said Thursday that Treyvon was visiting his girlfriend after school when he was shot.
Winfield said her son was looking forward to his senior prom next month and was planning for his graduation. He had aspirations of going to college, she said, and just three weeks ago, she was at his school helping him fill out his federal student aid application.
She described her son as a fun, loving jokester who was close to his family, especially his sisters and nephew. He was excited to welcome a niece into the family soon, she said.
“He was always the life of the party,” she said. “He was a good kid, he did not deserve this.”
Bob Jackson, executive director of the Roseland Ceasefire Project, said the anti-violence group was invited by the teen’s family to participate in the vigil, which he called a success as more than 100 people gathered to show their support.
Jackson said Far South Side neighborhoods near Morgan Park have seen an uptick in teen shootings.
The group, which focuses on reducing violence through community-based strategies including violence interruption, youth mentorship and trauma-informed counseling, is holding an anti-violence march on April 21 on 115th Street in Morgan Park, Jackson said.
“Trying to get prepared for the summer to tell the young people to put the guns down, stop shooting each other,” Jackson said. “On Monday, we’re going to be supporting him, as well as the other victims who have been killed in Chicago in the Morgan Park area.”
Shortly before 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 1000 block of West 115th Street and discovered Winfield with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. The gunman fled the scene and an investigation is ongoing, police said.
