A man who had just returned from picking up a cake for Mother's Day celebrations became a victim of Chicago's gun violence Saturday when an unknown individual shot him in the city's West Pullman community, authorities said.
Brandon Slater, 26, was fatally shot at around 2:45 p.m. near West 116th Place and South Lowe Avenue. According to police, someone exited a vehicle and shot him. Two others were shot, including a 64-year-old man who later died from his injuries.
Slater, an aspiring rapper known as "Benjee," had just picked up a cake ahead of a family gathering for Mother's Day.
"We were just planning our Mother’s Day dinner that I was cooking for everybody like I always do, and I just left him," said Diane Archer, Slater's mother. "He was trying to do good. He had a son."
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Archer says Slater is her second son lost to gun violence in less than six months.
Her other son, Sheridan Freeman, was shot and killed in December.
"These my daughters, and now we got to live our life without their two brothers and son, two sons," she said. "It just doesn’t make any sense."
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The 27-year-old who was shot near Slater was reported to be in good condition. A 64-year-old man who was mowing his lawn was also shot and later died at the hospital, police stated. He was identified as Larry Purnell, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
"I am so tired of this nonsense," Archer, Slater's mother said. "Something has to be done. This doesn’t even make any sense."
No one was in custody late Saturday as police continued to investigate.
