A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed execution-style Sunday afternoon several blocks from the Austin neighborhood group home where he'd been staying the past month, officials said.Killed was Joseph Price, of the 600 block of North Laramie Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The boy's guardian insisted the teen wasn't a gang member, but police said he was.
Police said the boy was walking on the street in the 500 block of North Long Avenue when his assailant approached on foot and shot him several times in his torso and head. The gunman then fled in a black vehicle.
Joseph was pronounced dead at 2:45 p.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital, about 45 minutes after he was shot.
Joseph's guardian Guyland Hill said the teen left his home to go to his older brother's home on the West Side, as he did every day.
About 20 minutes later, "Everybody in the neighborhood (came) up to me, talking about, 'one of your kids got shot!' " Hill told the Tribune.
Hill said he never saw any signs of trouble during the month that the boy lived with him. Hill's home provides transitional living for young people involved in the juvenile justice system. Teens are temporarily placed at his home until family members are located.
"He wasn't a gangbanger," Hill said. "I couldn't see it."
"I know the ones who are really hardcore gangbangers, believe me," said Hill, who has taken in troubled youth for 30 years.
The introverted-but-playful teen lacked any of the tell-tale signs of living the gang life and, because he hailed from west suburban Maywood, he knew few people in the neighborhood, according to Hill.
"If you gave him a bike, he's cool," Hill said. "If you give him a (video) game, he ain't going nowhere."
Despite Hill's claims, police said the teen was affiliated with a street gang.
Joseph was in the process of having guardianship turned over to an older sister living in Wisconsin and could have moved later this week, Hill said.
Grand Central Area detectives were continuing their investigation. The shooting was witnessed by two youths, police said.
