April 17--As Fredrick Irons sat on the steps of a two-flat red-brick home, he rubbed his face and shook his head in disbelief, struggling to come to grips with the shooting death of his only son Sunday.
About 1:25 a.m., police officers were dispatched to a call of a person shot near 13th Street and South Central Park Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood. Officers found Fredrick Lee Blount, a 33-year-old father of two, unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head.
Blount was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Police said Blount was standing next to his red Audi Q7, which was parked on the east side of Central Park, when he was shot near his childhood home. He ran across the street and collapsed near the stop sign at the south corner of 13th and Central Park, police and family said.
His son's death was a blow to Irons, who had spent much of Blount's life in prison, where he chided his son against a life of crime.
"My son and I talked all the time from jail," Irons said. "I'd tell him don't get involved in drugs and he listened. He really did listen."
A West Side native, Blount graduated from Collins Academy High School and was employed by a contracting company that did work for the Chicago Housing Authority, his family said. Last year, when Irons was released from prison on a drug charge, he saw an opportunity to catch up with Blount.
"I was very close with my son," Irons said. "That was my friend. That was the only person who when I came home told me, 'Whatever you do, don't get back with your old crowd. I'm your safety net now.' He was a really sharp kid."
Irons continued, "For a minute everything turned out well. As soon as he saw me we really hit it off. After all that time I left him there with the girls, his (three) sisters. ... Man, my son is a beautiful guy."
And just as they became reacquainted, Irons found himself fraught trying to explain the loss to his 12-year-old grandson.
"He said, 'Grandpa, my dad's not coming home anymore, is he?' " Irons recalled. "I said, 'No, he's not.' It was really rough on him."
Days earlier, Blount had taken his sister along to help him shop for a wedding ring for the mother of his 12-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.
As of Sunday morning, funeral arrangements were pending. His family hopes to plan a memorial for Blount later this week.
At the shooting scene, police cordoned off the intersection of 13th Street and South Central Park Avenue with yellow and red tape. Officers found five shell casings near the Audi, which was parked with its lights on. Blount's body was covered with a sheet.
As officers investigated, more than two dozen family members, friends and neighbors gathered mostly on the north side of the scene. A woman in a jean jacket and black pants stood in the middle of Central Park next to the yellow tape and leaned on a parked police SUV and banged her hand on the bumper, sobbing.
Family and police said Blount was not in a gang.
Calvin McMillan, 62, who lives in a three-story building where Blount's car was parked, said he woke up to gunshots outside his window. He said he knew Blount and his family and watched him grow up.
"He was a family man," McMillan said. "He knew nothing about the thug life."
Irons said he last talked to his son Saturday morning when Blount called to invite him to a party. Irons said he couldn't go because of work, but Blount and other family members were supposed to meet at a barbecue Sunday.
Shevon Irons said her nephew Blount called her about 9:45 p.m. Saturday and invited her to hang out. She said he told her he was going to be with friends at Douglas Park.
"I told him, 'I'll just see you tomorrow,' " Shevon Irons said. "I told him to be careful."
About 3 a.m., police let a white van inside the crime scene and workers placed Blount's body on a gurney and rolled it to the van. Blount's sisters and other family members came closer and started sobbing louder.
"I love you, brother," one woman screamed. "I love you. I love you."
As the van drove away, officers started to pull down the tape.
A team of five detectives walked up to Irons and gave him the keys to Blount's Audi.
Irons started weeping.
"He stayed out of trouble," he told detectives. "He listened to me."
"I'm sorry for your loss," a detective said. "We'll do everything we can. I can tell you that."
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