Oct 23, 2007 6:58 pm US/Central
Boy Dies After Being Shot Over Bike
Police: Sammy Benavente Was Standing Up For Friend Whose Bike Was Stolen
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Samuel Benavente, 14, was shot and killed, reportedly as he tried to stop another youth from stealing his friend's bike.
CBS
Family members mourned the death of a Chicago teen who was shot dead in a dispute over a bicycle in the Southwest Side's Marquette Park neighborhood.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley talked to the boy's mother about the tragedy.
"I want justice," Rozann Benavente said as she returned home after the painful decision to take her son, Samuel, off life support after he was shot.
"They took him off because the bullet was too far in, and they couldn't save him no more. He was brain dead. That's why they had to let him go," the grieving mother said.
Candles and crosses now mark the spot where the 14 year old was shot Sunday near 63rd and Central Park, only two blocks west of the Chicago Lawn District police station. Melissa Martinez says Sammy came to the aid of her son, who was Sammy's best friend.
"Some kid tried to steal my son's bike. He told him, give me the bike and my son said no," Martinez said.
Together, Sammy and Martinez' son beat up the would-be thief, but the boy returned minutes later, with a gun, shooting Sammy. He died at Mt. Sinai Hospital on Monday afternoon.
"He was a real good kid and always stood up for what he believed in. Whenever anyone was doing anything wrong, he was always there and stood up for it," family friend Sonja DeSantiago. "Someone obviously thought that the bicycle was worth more than his life."
Sammy Benavente lived with his grandmother, who was also his legal guardian. He's survived by a sister and nine brothers, one of whom was shot last year, not far from where Sammy was gunned down, but his brother survived.
Sammy was an eighth grader at Eberhart Elementary School, 3430 W. 65th Pl., where crisis counselors were on hand Monday and Tuesday to talk to the students.
"He had a large family. All of his siblings went here, so we know his family very well, and the students – they're grieving," said Eberhart Principal Nneka Gunn. "The teachers and staff are also grieving as well."
"He'd been here since kindergarten. He was very helpful, always helped off in the office," Gunn said. "He liked to draw and he was a pretty good artist; very well-liked, lots of friends."
The school is planning its own memorial service.
Wentworth Area police detectives are conducting a homicide investigation. Police said they are looking for two offenders in the shooting.
So far this school year, six Chicago Public Schools students have been murdered. Last year, guns killed 24 students.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum and Derrick Blakley and the STNG Wire contributed to this report. cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages
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