Michael Anderson was just steps from his front door when he was fatally shot on Chicago's Southwest Side early Wednesday morning.
The shooting occurred just after 4 a.m. in the 6600 block of South Washtenaw in the Marquette Park neighborhood, according to police.
Anderson, 59, was shot in the head and taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Hospital, where he later died. A neighbor, who didn't want to be identified, said he heard the gunfire.
"About three shots," Anderson's neighbor said. "We came out to see a body laying on the ground and then I seen his car door open. That's how I knew it was him."
Emptied pockets and what appeared to be evidence of a struggle on the front lawn suggest a possible motive of robbery.
"From what we can find out right now it was a robbery gone bad," said Anderson's brother Anthony Anderson. "Knowing Michael, he probably tried to talk to the guys - 'Hey man you don’t have to do this. Why you doing this?’"
Family and friends remember him as a generous artist with a kind heart — known for his murals, T-shirts and graphic art.
Local
"He always did T-shirts and everything for the kids," Anderson's neighbor Sheila recalled.
Some of his work still hangs in the gym at nearby Miles Davis Academy — banners featuring prominent African-American athletes.
"He was a good person," said Anderson's long-time friend Alex Levesque. "A good person that was trying to do good things and it’s just not right. It’s just not right."
For years, Anderson and Levesque fought against gun violence through their own mentoring program, Levesque said.
"It was a project about putting the guns aside and dealing with these Chicago gang members and trying to teach them and empower them to do more with their lives," Levesque said.
Investigators canvased the neighborhood Wednesday, while family and friends gathered outside the home, grappling with their loss, but letting go of anger.
"We believe in forgiveness," Anthony Anderson said. "So, we forgive them, the young men that did this, and we just pray that they get some help."
No one is in custody for the shooting and the investigation is ongoing.
