Harvey club shut down after 15-year-old shot to death

As the South Side mother of three drove one of her two sons home from the hospital with a gunshot wound early Sunday morning, her phone rang.

And things went from bad to worse.

That’s when she learned her other son, 15-year-old Nicholas Campbell, had been shot outside a club in south suburban Harvey, the boy’s aunt said.

Harvey Police found Nicholas Campbell, 15, who had been shot multiple times, in the parking lot outside Club Assets. | Family photo

His shooting proved fatal.

Nicholas, of the 5800 block of South King Drive in Chicago, was pronounced dead at Ingalls Memorial Hospital at 3:16 a.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Police found him shot multiple times in the parking lot outside Club Assets, 17100 S. Halsted. Latasha Britt, the boy’s aunt, said the shooting happened just hours after the boy’s brother had been shot on the South Side.

Harvey spokesman Sean Howard said Club Assets has been shut down while police investigate whether the underage boy was allowed inside.

“He had no business inside the club,” Howard said.

Club Assets was shut down earlier this year for operating as a strip club, Howard acknowledged. But he said it was allowed after a court hearing to re-open as a bar. Its owner could not be reached Sunday evening.

Britt said Nicholas tried to catch a ride to the hospital to see his wounded brother. But his friends detoured to Club Assets for a release party because the sibling’s condition was not critical.

Britt said her underage nephew was allowed to enter the club. Later, when fighting broke out inside, she said everyone was kicked out. The fighting continued in the parking lot, she said, and Nicholas was shot in the back as everybody scattered.

Britt said her nephew went to Phillips High School, wrote poetry, played football and also had a sister. Britt said the boy had a “bad habit” of asking family members for $2 — which he’d use for bus fare or a snack.

“He was a charming kid,” Britt said.

Contributing: Mitchell Armentrout and George Slefo