Merrillville, Indiana high school student shot and killed in Homewood
CHICAGO (CBS) – A Merrillville High School senior and football player was shot and killed last week in south suburban Homewood.
Around 8:35 p.m. on Friday, Homewood police responded to a report of shots fired in the 17500 block of Halsted. Officers found a male victim with gunshot wounds in the parking lot near a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, police said.
The victim, Johnathan Brown, 18, died from his injuries.
A second gunshot wound victim drove himself to a Gary, Indiana hospital where he was treated and released, police said.
A manager at the Dollar General next door was at the store during the shooting and heard two shots and put her store on lockdown.
Nick Brown, the superintendent of Merrillville Community School Corporation, confirmed in an email that Johnathan Brown was a student in the district.
"He was a valued member of our football team and a wonderful young man," the superintendent said. "It is a very sad day for the Merrillville community. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jonathon's family and friends."
The high school will have additional counselors and staff available to support students.
Chris Goffer, a longtime family friend, trained Brown to help him reach his dreams of playing college football.
"His smile was just contagious," Goffer said. "He's always been a kid that just has one of the biggest smiles ... just an unbelievable kid."
Brown attended school in Merrillville through middle school before moving to Homewood-Flossmoor. He had just returned to play football in Merrillville in August.
"He had really dove into the process and the offseason training and the detailed worked that it takes to be on a collegiate, elite level," Goffer said. "He was just scratching the surface in my opinion."
The Homewood Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit is conducting the investigation with help from the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact the Homewood Police Criminal Investigations Unit at 708-206-3420.