April 15--As they gathered at the crime tape, looking down at the body of their son under a white sheet, Raymond and Charisma Pryor were taken off to the side by police and told he was the target of a gang conflict.
But all they could see was a man gunned down as he was straightening out his life, going to college, planning a career in the fashion industry while taking care of his 5-year-old son.
"He was making the steps to settle down and focus on his career," said Charisma Pryor, 47. He owned a cleaning business, she said, and worked double shifts.
"He was a really good father and son," said Raymond Pryor III. "Whenever he had an off day, he would spend it with his son."
Police say Raymond Pryor IV, 25, was shot several times in the chest around 12:10 a.m. Friday in the 6500 block of South Western Avenue in the Marquette Park neighborhood. Responding officers found him lying on the sidewalk, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
About a dozen relatives and friends gathered at the crime scene, hugging and talking in hushed tones. Some cried.
A woman with red hair rushed up to the yellow crime tape. "What happened?" she yelled. "What happened?"
She lifted the tape and tried to get to Pryor's body but officers stopped her. Other family members gathered around the woman.
"I just left him! I just left him! I just left him!" the woman said.
"I understand emotion, but you just gotta stay behind tape," said one of the officers guarding the scene.
The woman lit a cigarette and stepped away, pacing back and forth.
Pryor's mother stood nearby, staring ahead and hugging family members as they arrived.
She said Raymond Pryor was the youngest of her two sons. He was apparently walking out of a barbershop when he was shot, the family said.
Police said Raymond Pryor was a documented gang member and attributed his shooting to an ongoing conflict in the area. His arrest record includes charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possessing a rifle in 2011 and, in the most recent case in 2013, charges of possessing a controlled substance.
Family members acknowledged that Pryor has a criminal history but said he wasn't a gang member. They said he has been successfully turning around his life. He got his GED in 2014 and attended Kennedy-King College. He hoped to one day work in the fashion industry, his mother said.
"He doesn't even travel at this time of the night."
Charisma Pryor said she and her son worked together at a polling location on the North Side during the primary.
She said she was just talking to him on the phone earlier Thursday. The two planned on taking a family vacation in Hawaii, New York or California.
