Shooting leaves 86-year-old man dead

By Darius Johnson

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — An 86-year-old man was shot and killed in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood Saturday morning.

The shooting happened just before 10 a.m. in the 8100 block of South Throop Street.

“I heard one shot. One shot. I heard one shot. And I immediately what’s going on,” said neighbor Tamika Wright.

Chicago police said the victim was found outside on a city sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the left thigh. He was taken to Christ Hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead.

The family of the victim identified him as Charles Hobson Sr.

“Pretty much what we know is that my father-in-law came out of the house to come to his car to get his phone and the next thing we know he called his companion inside the house and said that he had been shot,” said his daughter-in-law Kimberly Hobson-Gary.

She says he’s lived on this block for at least 60 years and he was a father to those on Throop Street.

“He was spunky. He was an awesome man of God. He was an entrepreneur, retired of course but an entrepreneur. He was a community man, and he just cared for others. He was very caring to other people and so this is very devastating, that this would happen to anyone not just him,” Hobson-Gary said.

His friendly nature leaves loved ones wondering why someone would do this.

“Mr. Hobson has never done anything to anybody. Like I said he’s always been like the grandfather type. He’s so nice, he’s so cool he’s always neighborly, and everything like that,” Wright said.

They later learned he was possibly shot for his car.

“Perhaps a car and we just don’t know why,” said Kimberly Hobson-Gary, the victim’s daughter-in-law. “This is senseless. That’s what we know. We do know that it was senseless. They did take his car. The car is back. It’s torn in pieces and he’s no longer here so we really don’t know what the reason is.”

Wright told CBS 2’s Darius Johnson, “they had taken his vehicle, left, returned to the scene and then got caught trying to get back into his house.”

But Chicago Police haven’t said if anyone is in custody. For hours, they were seen canvassing the streets for evidence and surveillance.

“Let me tell you it is senseless. And you know you watch this every day and of course I’ve heard many people say when it happens to you, you feel it in a different way,” Hobson-Gary said.

Circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation by Area 2 detectives.

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