Hunter Krzysik would have turned 14 years old this week, but instead a community is in mourning after the teen was shot to death last week in suburban Bensenville.
“The kid was just phenomenal,” Aaron Stewart, the team’s baseball coach, said on Thursday.
Krzysik was accidentally shot and killed by a friend last week, and his baseball teammates and his family are still reeling from the shocking tragedy.
“I remember Hunter as one of the hardest working kids on the field,” his teammate Nathan Stewart said. “I remember him just getting super excited when he would play a game.”
In honor of the baseball-loving teen’s memory, his team is planning a moving tribute before a wake is held Thursday. After holding a moment of silence at the baseball field where Krzysik spent hours honing his craft, the team will walk to a local funeral home, where a visitation service will be held Thursday.
“We’ll walk together as a unit to give our respects,” coach Bob Urena said.
His teammates also honored him on their first day of school Wednesday, wearing the teen’s favorite shade of blue in homage to the boy who adored his hometown Chicago Cubs.
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In the midst of the tragedy, a community is coming together to support the boys that took the field with Krzysik and expressing hope that no one else will have to go through the pain that they are going through in the aftermath of his tragic passing.
“You don’t have to know him to know that this tragedy could happen anywhere,” Urena said. “And when it does, the entire community gets rocked. A 5-year-old no longer has a brother, and a father no longer has a son to coach.”
