'He Was Going to Make Me Real Proud of Him,' Says Mom of Slain 9-Year-Old Boy

Tyshawn Lee with his mother, Karla Lee. | GoFundMe

Tyshawn Lee was a basketball-loving 9-year-old who dreamed of growing up to play in the NBA so he could buy his mother a new house.

Now, his grieving mother is trying to raise money for her baby’s funeral, after Tyshawn was gunned down in alley in the South Side Gresham neighborhood late Monday afternoon.

A family friend has set up a GoFundMe page to help Karla Lee, a single mom, pay for her son’s funeral costs while the search continues for the boy’s killers.

“He was going to make me real proud of him,” his mother told the Chicago Tribune. “I believed every word my son said.”

Police sources tell the Tribune the boy may have been the intended target, shot dead in retaliation for a relative’s part in gang murders.

Tyshawn was in an alley in the 8000 block of South Damen Avenue with an “unknown number of individuals” around 4:15 p.m. when witnesses reported hearing gunfire.

The 9-year-old boy was found on the ground with his basketball near his side. Chicago police said he had been shot multiple times in his upper body. He was pronounced dead on the scene at 4:39 p.m., not to far from where his grandmother lived in in the 2000 block of West 80th Place.

Police still have not ruled out if Tyshawn was caught in gun crossfire or if he was targeted. Lee was so overcome by news of her son’s death that she was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn for treatment.

More than $5,000 had been raised for the $10,000 need to bury the 9-year-old boy.

“On today November 2,2015 my friend lost her only reasons for living which was her son they took her baby away from her to a senseless act of gun violence she was a single mother who do her best to raise her child to give him the best life possible she wasn’t planning on losing her child so we asking family and friends to help her in her time of need with any small donations to help her lay her son to rest,” the campaign organizer posted.

Donors posted condolences along with their donations of $5, $10, and $20.

“I wish I had more I pray for you and your family at this time,” said a donor of $10.

“I don’t have the funds to help, but i will pray for his mom, and the entire family. Try to stay strong momma. I’m so sorry for your loss,” said another.

Community activist Andrew Holmes had angry words for the perpetrators “who discharged the weapon,” telling reporters Monday evening that the persons responsible “shouldn’t have no bed to sleep in.”

“This child should have been walking to school in the morning, not taking a ride to the medical examiner’s office,” Holmes said.

Two churches, St. Andrew and St. Sabina, are offering a combined reward of $16,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the boy’s death.

Both Holmes and Father Michael Pfleger are urging residents from the Gresham community to come forward if they have information that could help police bring the boy’s killers to justice.

“What kind of an individual shoots bullets into a 9-year-old baby ... multiple shots?” Pfleger said to reporters Tuesday afternoon. “That’s not a drive-by. That’s not a spray of bullets. That’s not an accidental shooting.

“That is an execution.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Chicago police at 312-747-8271.