Jan. 08--It was always a mystery how Tom Buchanan got shot when he was in his teens in the 1940s.
The quiet man who loved playing cards didn't talk much about it. After the 87-year-old retired steel worker died this week, his few surviving relatives were surprised when told the wound from long ago contributed to his death.
Now it's a mystery for police. Buchanan's death has been listed a homicide by the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Chicago police said Thursday they have few details to go on but were looking into the case. If it turns out Buchanan was shot in Chicago, the homicide would be added to the total of the year when the shooting occurred.
Buchanan died Sunday morning at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, where he had gone the day before after feeling ill, according to his relatives.
An autopsy determined Buchanan died of complications from an intestinal obstruction and a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to the medical examiner's office. A secondary cause of death was listed as heart disease.
"The autopsy determined that the gunshot ultimately caused the complications to his abdomen which eventually killed him," said Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for the office. Buchanan's death was ruled a homicide.
Buchanan had told relatives that he had been shot in the 1940s but was vague about the details, according to Mattie Matthews, 80, Buchanan's cousin.
"I was a little girl," said Matthews, from the South Side. "It was a long, long time ago. Who shot him or why he was shot I do not know."
Buchanan mentioned the old wound after he was admitted to Mercy. "Just this past weekend, when he was in the hospital, he told the staff too," said Matthews' daughter, Vernetta Jones.
Buchanan was born March, 3, 1927, and grew up in Hollandale, Miss. He moved to Chicago with his mother when he was in his teens but never married and had no children or siblings. He worked for U.S. Steel as a laborer, his family said.
Matthews, who watched over Buchanan and was in frequent contact with him, said she was the "closest person to him" in recent years.
"He was a nice person, pleasant personality,'' Matthews said. "He was doing fine. I talked to him on New Year's Day.
"And then the day after New Year's, the housekeeper went in, and she called me and told me he was sick," said Matthews. "I went down there and tried to get him to go to the doctor and he said, 'No, I will go in the morning.' "
But by Saturday he was doing much worse, Matthews said, and paramedics were called and he was taken to Mercy Hospital.
Buchanan had moved to the Armour Square Apartments, an independent living facility in the 3200 block of South Wentworth Avenue, about a year ago. Before that, he lived at a senior building in the 2800 block of South Shields Avenue, Jones said.
"He liked to play cards," said Jones, adding that Bid Whist was a favorite game. "I remember him just being a very kind, very quiet man."
