A teenage boy has died after he was shot 24 times in Chicago while out buying snacks.
According to reports, Sincere Cole was heading to a gas station in the Chicago Lawn area on Saturday night to buy some refreshments when an unidentified gunman opened fire, fatally injuring the 15-year-old.
No witnesses have come forward with information about potential suspects, and police have yet to reveal if they have any suspects. Meanwhile, the boy’s family are begging anyone with information about the homicide to speak out.
Cole’s aunt and legal guardian, Brandy Martin, pleaded at a Tuesday press conference:
“I’ve got to stand up here and scream from inside out and make sure I get the word out so he won’t be another name, another number, another tag. Don’t forget about us because we’re put in areas that (are) low income… He’s got siblings who are hurting. He has a father. I am pleading for help from my city to bury my nephew. We need help, we need grief counseling.”
Martin said she hopes surveillance footage from nearby stores and apartments will help solve the crime.
The anguished aunt described Sincere as a “lovable kid” who was often misunderstood after his mother, Felon Smith, was fatally struck by a Chicago Transit Authority train in 2019. Explaining how Cole was a creative child who took initiative to better his life, Brandy said:
“Sincere was creative, ambitious. An entrepreneur at 15. He found a way. Standing at the gas station pumping people’s gas to make money; it’s better than knocking an old lady in the head for her purse. He didn’t have to die.”
Brandy explained that this wasn’t the first time a family member of hers suffered a tragic fate: her own 22-year-old daughter was murdered in 2019 in Fuller Park, a case that has since gone unsolved.
Ralph Kendall, who works at the Shell gas station Cole was shot near, said he was the last person to see the teen alive. He told ABC7 Chicago:
“I heard shots, but I hear that all the time. And he took his last breath.”
No words.
The Faith Community Church of Saint Sabina is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone with information that could lead to an arrest. Our hearts go out to the victim’s loved ones as police continue to investigate.
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