Witness: Home Invader Shot Dead On South Side
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A man was shot to death on the front steps of an Englewood home, and a witness said it was a home invasion that was foiled by a man who lives there.
The dead man — identified by relatives as Darryl Turner, 27 — was shot around 8:30 a.m. at the home in the 5800 block of South Shields Avenue.
His body remained slumped at the bottom of a set of steps in front of the home later Monday morning as police recovered evidence from the scene.
The police released few details about the shooting.
But an eyewitness who asked not to be named told the Chicago Sun-Times that Turner was one of three armed men who pulled up in front of the house in a white Pontiac Bonneville and tried to break in and rob it.
"The guy who lives there shot him, and he fell down the stairs," the witness said. "His buddies went back for him, but he wasn't moving, so they got back in the car and escaped through the alley."
Neighbors Eddie Easter and Kenny Smith said they both heard four shots fired. The two-story, frame home had previously been fired upon several times in just the past week, they said.
"You've gotta be allowed to defend your own home," Smith said.
Easter added that gunfire isn't unusual on their block. "In the summer, the kids run up and down here shooting," he said.
Turner's aunt Melinda said Turner was the father of a 5-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy. He grew up in Chicago but moved to Milwaukee and was back in town for a short visit, according to his former girlfriend, Jennifer Smith.
Turner had survived multiple previous shootings — perhaps as many as 10, his aunt said.
In the most recent incident, last November, Turner was shot in the abdomen and another bullet grazed his eye, she added.
Smith said, "You could say he was blessed to have been shot 10 times before and lived each time," but she said it couldn't have been true that Turner could have been robbing the home where he was shot.
"He had kids, and he didn't need to rob anyone — his family took care of him," she said.
One tearful relative had to be restrained by police as she ran under police tape towards Turner's body.
Neighbors said the resident who shot Turner was taken away by police for questioning. He lived with his partner and their young son at the house, they said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
