Shandel Adams / Photo from Instagram
BY KENNY NGUYEN
Homicide Watch Chicago
Shandel Adams once broke his ankle playing football on Thanksgiving, but the constant jokester maintained his sense of humor all the way to the emergency room.
“He was a jokester, he got that from me,” said Adams' brother, Johnny Adams. “He was cheerful and happy. He wasn’t a down type of person, and he wouldn’t allow you to be down around him because he was full of life.”
Shandel Adams, 25, won't be around this Thanksgiving after he was fatally shot in the 600 block of North Ridgeway Avenue in the Humboldt Park community early Sept. 30, authorities said.
Johnny Adams said his brother was returning from a friend’s home when he was shot. After the gunfire erupted, those friends came running and found Shandel Adams on the ground, his brother said.
“During that moment, I was thinking OK, he will be alright ... Maybe he got shot in the arm or leg or something,” his brother said. "There wasn’t any urgency in my mom’s voice, so I was thinking he all right.”
Shandel Adams, of the 5400 block of West Van Buren Street, died later that day at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Johnny Adams said his brother was raised to respect his elders and he lived a “nice life.”
"Everybody who came in contact with him, he would just put a smile on their face,” his brother said.
Johnny Adams said his brother was “spoiled to the max” as a child and played Xbox and PlayStation video games.
As an adult, Shandel Adams cared for his child and helped raise his fiance's two children, his brother said. His fiance is pregnant with Shandel Adams second child, he said.
“It’s amazing how I see him grow into a young man like that,” Johnny Adams said. "He took them under his wings and they called him daddy. It’s amazing how I see him grow into a young man like that -- especially to take responsibilities for another man. That’s very manly in itself.”
Shandel Adams was buried Oct. 9 and the support was so overwhelming that mourners had to stand in a line that stretched around the walls of the church, Johnny Adams said.
“He touched and affected a lot of people's lives, which is a good thing,” his brother said. "We just have to continue to pray for my mom as she continues to deal with this situation because no parents should have to bury their child. Every child should have to bury their parent. That’s the way it should go.”