A 16-year-old boy fatally shot near a downtown Red Line station early Monday had lost his older brother to gun violence in 2018.
Vadarrion A. Knight, from the West Lawn neighborhood, was shot twice in his chest and once in the knee about 2 a.m. near the station in the first block of East Grand Avenue, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. A gunman was seen running from the Red Line stop.
Knight was a “very hard-working young boy on his way to becoming a man” who would always smile and crack a joke, a friend said Monday.
Knight kept that smile and stayed strong even after losing his older brother Deshawn James to gun violence in 2018, friends said. James was 17 when he was shot Jan. 10 in the 13300 block of South Calumet Avenue.
“After losing his older brother, it was a tragic moment for him and his loving mother and he wanted to be strong for her,” said the friend, who asked not to be named. “It wasn’t so easy for him after losing his brother, he stayed so strong though always kept a smile on his face no matter what.”
Another longtime friend said Knight was always willing to put others ahead of himself, especially older generations.
“He was respectful to his elders, always there when you needed help,” said the friend, who asked to be identified as JB. “He was always helping the older people out as well, walking them across the street making sure they have enough bus fare to get in the bus carrying their groceries.”
JB said she and Knight grew up in the same neighborhood, adding that he was an enterprising young man, taking jobs to earn money. “From washing cars, cutting people grass, shoveling snow, taking out garbages, selling candy, ice, cups, chips, chocolate bars. He was a money chaser.”
But, JB said, “he would give his last dollar to me if I needed it. He was a loving respectful young person who’s life was taken away too soon.”
Monday’s shooting was the first murder reported on the Near North Side this year, according to police data.
Hours after he fatal shooting, gunfire rang out inside the station during the morning rush. A man was exiting the train platform at 9 a.m. when an argument turned physical, police said. Someone hit the man in the forehead with a firearm and fired two shots, but no one was struck by the bullets, police said.
The man, 30, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and stabilized, police said.
No one was in custody in either incident.
There have been four other shootings in the community area this year, one of them only a block away from Monday’s shooting. On Feb. 1, a man was shot in the 100 block of East Grand Avenue shortly before 1 a.m., police said.
