Dec. 12--Leonardo Matias' new job brought him to a street across from Truman College on Tuesday morning just as a gunman was aiming at a rival from a passing car.
The bullet instead hit Matias in the side, and he died the next day.
"What I keep thinking is that he had such a potential to give," said a family friend, Darlene Reschke. "He gave a lot at 21. What would he have done his whole life? It's such a tragedy. Just so sad."
Matias was two weeks into his new job for a fire safety company, checking extinguishers, when shots were fired from a passing car about 10 a.m. in the 1100 block of West Wilson Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood, according to authorities.
"He evidently had a stop near Truman College, and he was taking equipment out of the truck when someone drove by," said Shando Valdez, pastor of the New Jerusalem Baptist Church, where Matias attended. "He was not the intentional target. They were shooting, and a bullet struck him in the left side."
Police confirmed Matias was not the target, but they have released few other details of the shooting and have reported no one in custody.
Valdez said he knew Matias for almost all his 21 years. "He was like a son to me,'' the pastor said. "He was a great young man. I dedicated him, I baptized him."
Born and raised in Chicago, Matias graduated from Steinmetz High School. He served as a youth leader at the church at 3859 N. Central Ave. and spent a lot of time working with youth ages 13 to 19, Valdez said.
Every Friday night, he led a casual youth group that met to talk about teen life issues, Valdez said. He worked with all the church sports teams and coached soccer, a sport he was passionate about and played himself until a knee injury forced him to stop, the pastor said.
He was also a musician and played guitar during church services.
Matias had recently taken time off from computer classes at DeVry University to work at the fire safety company and save money for his studies, Valdez said.
Valdez said he has been with Matias' family since the shooting but does not have any answers for them. Besides his parents, Matias is survived by two brothers, one of whom is 11 and struggling to understand what happened, Valdez said. He was not married and had no children.
"I can't make sense of this. We can't attempt to explain," Valdez said. "His parents are devastated. This was an innocent ... a precious life ... a young man with a great future ahead of him.
"He was, once again, a victim of foolishness, nonsense of this gang warfare that's out here,'' Valdez added. "It's just a tragedy, it really is."
Reschke last saw him on Sunday, at church.
"He was always kind. I am 78 years old, and there was never a Sunday he didn't come up to me, smiling, and ask me about my week and how I was feeling,'' she said. "He went out of his way to be kind.''
She said Matias was great with children.
"He would watch and see if a child wasn't playing or something, and he'd go over and talk to the person and get him in a game,'' Reschke said. "I want everyone to know what a good person he was."
She said Matias wanted his organs donated. "He was always a good person, and now he's going to save countless lives."
