A veteran tow truck driver and family man was killed in a shootout with a gunman who was also fatally wounded early Wednesday in Roseland.
Chicago police did not make clear what sparked the gun battle, but a relative of the driver, 59-year-old Dexter Johnson, and neighbors said Johnson was assisting other city staffers with a booted SUV when its owner opened fire, according to his family. Johnson returned fire, and he and the owner died, according to police and a relative.
The shootout, which several neighbors heard, happened about 2:30 a.m. in the 11300 block of South Lowe Avenue.
Johnson’s cousin, 45-year-old N. Hill, said he was a concealed-carry license holder.
“He was a responsible gun owner,” Hill said.
“He was a wonderful person, highly regarded,” said Hill. He was a “give you the shirt off your back” type of person who had been working for 30 years plus as a tow truck and transit driver in Chicago to provide for his family.
Johnson, a South-Sider who has three adult children, was a contractor who worked for the city, Hill said.
“He was nose-to-the-grindstone,” Hill said. “He never stopped working. He believed in it.”
There was one exception to Johnson’s iron-clad work ethic. Every year he made sure he was at his grandmother’s side to help her celebrate her birthday with flowers, a cake, a party and all the trimmings. “She is turning 102 later this month and lives out of state,” Hill said.
“We’re devastated,” Hill said. “He’s a force missing from our family. Someone who was so strong.”
Several neighbors in the residential block heard the gunshots, including one man who was awake playing video games when he heard two shots and someone shout: “Yo, get the f - - - away from my car!” followed by eight more shots within the span of five minutes.
“I just saw the end where both of them are on the ground,” said the man, who didn’t want to be named because of safety concerns. “My mom was crying, [saying] ‘he’s just doing his job.’ I was just trying to stay calm for her.”
A woman who lives nearby said she was awakened by “screaming and yelling.” When she peeked out her window she saw a body next to a silver SUV.
“I’m really shaken up, she said. “I can’t stop looking at the spot where the man was lying.”
The woman, who didn’t want to be identified out of safety concerns, recalled seeing a boot on the silver SUV about 24 hours before the shooting.
Ree, a woman who lives across the street from the shooting and withheld her last name for safety reasons, said the window of her red Ford Escape was shattered during the shooting.
“No one should ever have to die for material things,” Ree said. “You can always get another car. … I’m just so disappointed people value material things over life.”
Ree moved to the block about two weeks ago and said she loves the area, but the shooting was something she’s never seen in her life.
“Somebody just overreacted,” she said.
Another woman who identified herself only as the SUV owner’s aunt declined to speak to a Sun-Times reporter as she walked into a home on the block, but said her family was left with questions about what happened.
“We would’ve never believed this happened; [like] it came out of a movie,” she said.
