The 17-year-old boy who was shot and killed on certainly one of Uptown’s most harmful blocks this weekend had additionally survived a capturing lower than a block away two years in the past.
Officers recognized the sufferer as Kahlif Norwood. Police stated eight males approached him as he stood in an alley behind the 5000 block of North Winthrop round 10:20 p.m. on Sunday. Certainly one of them pulled out a gun and commenced capturing, hanging Norwood a number of occasions. He was pronounced useless at Illinois Masonic Hospital.
Surveillance video confirmed the suspects working south on Winthrop after which west on Argyle after the capturing. Police rapidly shifted sources to close by gang territories, deploying officers to Sunnyside and Magnolia to move off attainable retaliation.
Norwood was additionally shot in Uptown on October 2, 2023, when he was 15. In that case, a gunman emerged from an alley within the 1000 block of West Argyle, close to the Argyle Crimson Line station, and opened fireplace. Norwood suffered a wound to his decrease leg, whereas a 44-year-old man was shot within the foot. No arrests have been made.
Justin Peters, founding father of the Chitown Crime Chasers group, stated Norwood as soon as participated in his youth mentoring program.
“Talking from my expertise, Khalif wasn’t a saint, however general was a wise and proficient child,” Peters stated. “He was just like the chief of the youth group as a result of he was the oldest, and he at all times gave the boys information about life and the streets. He inspired them to go down the correct path.”
Peters recalled visiting Norwood within the hospital after the 2023 capturing. “I’ll always remember the evening we had a protracted three-hour dialog about life, God, and his future plans. He needed to get out of the streets and transfer on with a rapping profession,” Peters stated.
“This horrible information simply fully shattered my coronary heart. I really feel like I failed him.”
The boy is the fifth particular person shot in Uptown this yr and the neighborhood’s first homicide sufferer of 2025. He’s the second particular person shot on the 5000 block of North Winthrop this yr. A 22-year-old man was shot throughout a theft on April 11, just some yards from final evening’s homicide. By this date final yr, 10 individuals had been shot in Uptown, together with three within the 5000 block of North Winthrop. In 2023, 4 individuals have been shot throughout a single incident on the block.
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