'My Boy Was A Good Kid': Mother Of Slain Hillcrest HS Freshman

HAZEL CREST, IL — The mother of a 14-year-old Hillcrest High School student fatally shot Friday is pleading for justice, saying her son was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Hazel Crest resident Marshawn Mitchell had just transferred to Hillcrest High School in County Club Hills, and was attending the school's homecoming football game Sept. 15, when his mother says it appears he got caught in the crossfire between two groups, suffering a gunshot wound to the chest. Mitchell was pronounced dead at 9:40 p.m. Friday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

"My son was a good kid," said his mother, Amanda Lenoir. "My son was not in any gangs or anything. He was just an innocent bystander."

Mitchell had just recently started attending Hillcrest High School, after transferring from Brother Rice High School in Chicago, where Lenoir said he was having a difficult time and experiencing run-ins with racism. He had graduated from Prairie-Hills Junior High in nearby Markham, Lenoir said, and had been asking that she allow him to make the move to Hillcrest, where the majority of his former classmates attend.

"He was begging me to transfer him," Lenoir said. "I transferred him because it was closer to our house anyway. He went to school that morning, told me he was going to stay there until the game started, and then he never came home."

The shooting took place around 9 p.m. near the school at 17401 S. Pulaski Rd, Bremen District 228 said in an alert to parents, following the game between Hillcrest High School and Oak Forest High School. Country Club Hills Police said that they were in the area of the high school dispersing a group of people when shots were fired by an unknown offender.

“It is with a heavy heart we mourn the devastating loss of one of our Hillcrest High School students,” the district said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all those involved in this tragedy.”

Mitchell loved football, his mom told Patch, and aspired to reach the NFL. A wide receiver, he'd briefly been on the Brother Rice team, matriculating from the Southside Seahawks and Midwest Seahawks youth football teams. He had been so excited to play at Hillcrest, she said.

"All my baby ever wanted to do was play football, and you stole that from him," she said, referring to the person shot him.

Lenoir described her only child as "a jokester."

"He always cracked jokes," she said. "He loved football, he loved working out. He had the best smile ever, he always brightened up my days.

"... His smile, his dimples. ... He always made people laugh. He’d just crack jokes, he made light of every situation, everybody loved him. He could turn your frown into a smile, just like that."

The mother-son duo this summer had marked the occasions of each other's graduations—Mitchell from junior high, Lenoir from nursing school. They took a trip to the Wisconsin Dells—his idea, she said.

"I was so happy and so proud of him, for just being on the right track," Lenoir told Patch.

Country Clubs Hills Police Chief John Galvin said on Monday that there were "no critical updates" to report on the investigation, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Lenoir said her frustration grows with a lack of progress each day.

"I’m just a little bit angry right now," she said, "and I’m not getting any good news that I want to hear from the police. It’s hard getting people to come forward."

A $4,000 reward is being offered for any information on the shooting, CBS2 reports. Hillcrest HS parent Stringer Harris and the Hillcrest Alumni Association are behind the reward.

"Some people might look at $4,000 and be like, 'Hey, I'm not giving up my son or daughter, or whoever was involved with this, for just $4,000,'" Harris told CBS2. "But I always urge, and I tell people to put yourself in those people's shoes."

Lenoir on Tuesday implored anyone who knows anything about the shooting to come forward.

"Please, help me get justice for Marshawn," Lenoir said. "Anybody that knows him, knows he didn’t deserve that."

A GoFundMe has been started to support the family with expenses such as private investigators, community outreach, and time lost at work. A memorial has been started outside the school, with flowers and balloons laid in Mitchell's honor.

Though tears Tuesday, Lenoir vowed she will continue to speak up about her son's death.

"I’ve been trying to so hard to be strong ... but I have to be strong, speak up for the kids like him," Lenoir said.

"I've got to speak up for the kids who aren’t gang-affiliated, who were in the wrong place, at the wrong time," she said.

"I gotta get my baby’s story out. My baby was a good child."