A 12-year-old boy shot and killed Sunday night in a home in Englewood always helped his neighbors and loved to tell jokes, his family said Monday.
Marcell Wilson was on a bed with other people in a back bedroom in the 5500 block of South Aberdeen Street when someone he knew fired a handgun about 11:25 p.m., striking him in the chest, Chicago police said.
He was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he later died, police said.
Marcell’s death was ruled a homicide, according to autopsy results released Monday by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Police released few details, saying they still haven’t talked to the shooter. No one was in custody Monday afternoon.
A great-aunt, Donna Gaither, said she did not know the circumstances of the shooting. She said Marcell often helped his neighbors with chores and had a sense of humor.
“He was young, but he was a good little helpful boy,” Gaither said. “He would help anyone clean up. Anything helpful, anything he could do. They paid him to clean up the yard, rake the yard, pick up the paper. He was really helpful to a lot of neighbors in the area.
“He liked to be a comedian. He loved to crack jokes, he loved to talk crazy,” she said.
Marcell grew up on the South Side and had moved around in the area recently with his mother and father, Donna Gaither said. She saw Marcell less often after he entered school.
