Deminco Kennedy was building a new life.
He had just moved into a new house. He was going to church again. And Tuesday, he was offered a job at Toni’s Liquors in Skokie. The manager was eager to have him start.
But the good news came a day too late.
Kennedy, 26, of the 1900 block of Jackson Avenue, was killed Monday in the year’s first homicide in Evanston.
Kennedy was shot once in the left side, said Cmdr. Michael Perry of Evanston Police Department.
No one was in custody Monday night. “We are following up on all leads,” Perry said.
Perry said Kennedy was lying in the front seat of a car on the 1700 block of Grey Avenue when police found him Monday morning. An unidentified person was with Kennedy, aiding him Perry said.
Kennedy’s girlfriend, Natasha Poyser, said police told her Kennedy was shot near the intersection of Emerson Street and Dodge Avenue then drove to Poyser’s mother’s house on Grey, where police found him.
Kennedy was conscious when police arrived and was taken to Evanston Hospital, 2650 Ridge Ave. He was pronounced dead at 3:33 p.m.
Kennedy’s housemates said they last saw him as he was leaving to drop Poyser off at work Monday morning. They said he planned to return to the house to prepare for job interviews — he had not yet learned of the Toni’s Liquors offer.
Poyser said Kennedy returned to the house after dropping her off at work, then he went out again to take someone to a laundromat.
It was during that trip that Kennedy was shot, Poyser said.
She said Kennedy called her and said, “I’ve been hit.”
Roommates Danyiel Francellno and Holly Davis learned of the shooting when Kennedy’s girlfriend phoned the house and told them to come to her mother’s home.
“When we got there, it was pretty much a crime scene,” Francellno said.
Officials told the roommates that Kennedy had been stabilized and was at the hospital, Francellno said.
They both breathed a sigh of relief.
“An hour later, I got a call,” Francellno said. “He had passed away.”
Poyser said she and Kennedy were together for a year, but the two had known each other for a long time.
“He was respectful,” Poyser said. “He was caring.”
Roommates described Kennedy as a “quiet person” who played basketball twice a week at Weber Gymnasium in Chicago.
He like video games, music videos and showing off his muscles, Francellno said.
Roommate Holly Davis said Kennedy “was just getting on his feet” and moving forward with his life.
Both EPD and the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force (NORTAF) are still investigating the shooting.