Minister's Son Among Chicago Gun Violence Victims This Labor Day Weekend
(CBS) – Another senseless drive-by shooting has left another family in mourning this Labor Day weekend.
The victim, Lavell Southern, a former local high school and college football player, was a young man his family recalls as kind and generous.
"He would tell me every time he'd see me, 'Hey dad, give me a hug.' That hug I'm going to miss," Rev. Maurice Southern, the victim's father, tells CBS 2's Mike Parker.
Southern and his family gathered Monday to remember his 23-year-old son, once a football and basketball standout at Mt. Carmel High School who went on to play at Carthage College in Wisconsin.
The young man was killed early Sunday as he stood outside a West Loop club after a family birthday party. Somebody in a black van pulled up, shots were fired into the crowd, and Lavell was killed. Another man was wounded.
"When they took my son from me with this senseless killing, they really took me to a level of pain in my heart that I have never felt before," the elder Southern says.
He recalls how his son would help him with his ministry in church and how he would mentor young boys to "keep them on the straight and narrow."
At the Engine No. 75 firehouse in Roseland, firefighters watched Lavell grow up and remember him as a fine young man. His father, you see, is also a full-time Chicago firefighter.
"He never looked for trouble and for trouble to find him like this is just unbelievable," his father says.
Funeral services for Lavell Southern are set for Saturday at his father's church, Grace Apostolic Church, 8257 S. Exchange.