Simon Brown Sr. walked with a cane, but that didn’t stop the 59-year-old from escorting his relative’s children to and from a grade school over the Dan Ryan Expressway.
It was along the same route on Monday evening that he stopped to get his daily lottery tickets and talked with a friend, his family said.
But an argument nearby turned violent and gunfire erupted. Brown — who was not involved — was shot in his chest outside a liquor store at 71st and State streets.
“He did so much for us. … It’s crazy,” Delores Watson, Brown’s partner of 24 years, told the Sun-Times.
Three others were wounded in the shooting, including another bystander who was shot in the head. The suspected gunman was shot by a second shooter as he ran from the scene, according to a police report.
Before the attack, surveillance cameras show the suspect walking up to the store and arguing with someone before pulling out a gun and firing.
The gunfire struck the 53-year-old man with whom he was was arguing and Brown. Another bystander, 49, was shot in his head and collapsed in a store entrance, according to the police report. He was listed in grave condition.
Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert and found Brown face down on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his chest, the report states. First responders performed CPR on Brown and took him to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The suspected shooter ran north but was shot by someone who stepped out of a parked white Hyundai, the report states.
Officers later found and arrested the suspected shooter in a Subway restaurant around the corner. He had a gunshot wound to his leg, according to a police report. The second shooter from the Hyundai remained at large, police said.
Brown’s family on Tuesday struggled to understand the loss.
Brown’s son, Simon Brown Jr., said “it’s hard” dealing with the news of his dad’s death. The younger Brown is graduating from college in Minnesota this spring. He plans to return to Chicago Tuesday.
“I just keep thinking about how scared or how he must’ve felt when he was taken to the hospital,” he said.
In a GoFundMe online fundraiser to pay for his dad’s funeral, Brown said his father “could cook and grill like nobody’s business.” He would wake up early each morning to listen to gospel music on 89.3 WKKC, his son wrote.
Brown’s sister-in-law, Vera Parker, said Brown had a swollen foot, walked with a cane and was unable to run from the gunfire.
Brown walked his niece’s children every day over the expressway from their home to Deneen Elementary School, 7257 S. State St. He had been walking kids to that school for at least the last 20 years, and many of those kids are now adults, she said.
“He’s going to be sorely missed in this neighborhood,” Parker said. She said he helped maintain gardens, cut grass and repair fences.
Before he became disabled, Brown checked coats at McCormick Place, and at one point he traveled the state doing demolition after natural disasters, Parker said.
He was also affectionate.
“His saying was: ‘I love you and you can’t take it back,’” Parker said.
Brown was well-known to the shopkeepers at the Grand Crossing strip mall where he was killed.
Lynette Stewart was working the counter of the Grand Palaceliquor store when she heard gunshots outside and fell to the floor. She saw Brown on the ground and ran to him, called 911 and called out his name.
Outside of Grand Palace Food & Liquor at 7131-33 S. State St. in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Police said one man was killed and three others wounded Monday afternoon in front of the store, the third mass shooting in Chicago in two days. | Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times
Zubaer Khan/Sun-Times
Brown was a “sweet” man who stopped by daily, usually to buy a $5 or $10 lottery crossword and a small bottle of Dimitri gin, Stewart said.
“He plays the lottery, minds his business and goes on with his day,” she said. “It’s shocking to me.”
He would talk “all the time” about his kid and the children he looked after, she said.
And he was generous with compliments.
“He’d say, ‘You’re too pretty to have your hair up. Anything encouraging to make you feel better,”’ she said.
Stewart said the block has its issues with violence. Last November, three men were wounded in a shooting on the same block.
But the latest shooting has left her shaken.
“I think today is my last day working here,” she said. “I can’t do it anymore. I’m so used to seeing [these] people’s faces. When something like that happens, I can’t take that.”
