Jose Hernandez / Family photo
BY CHANTELLE NAVARRO
Homicide Watch Chicago
When Jose Hernandez Jr. wasn't in school, he was working as a forklift operator to support his parents, family said.
Police found Hernandez, 17, shot in the head on a sidewalk in the 5900 block of South Fairfield Avenue about 1:15 a.m. Dec. 17, authorities said. He was declared dead a short time later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Family members said Hernandez was coming home from work when he was shot to death outside his Chicago Lawn home.
Hernandez' sister, Stephanie Hernandez, said her brother woke up at 7 a.m. and went to school until noon. He would then go to his job as a forklift operator in southwest suburban Bolingbrook.
"He would never be lazy at home on the couch sleeping -- never," Stephanie Hernandez said.
The day after Jose Hernandez was killed, his family learned he spent his entire paycheck on a 50-inch for his parents that was available for pick up, his sister said.
"He was the kindest gentleman, so handsome and generous and selfless," his sister said. "Everything was always about whoever had less than he had, that’s what he was about.
Jose Hernandez / Family photo
"He was very humble. After he died, we found out many things about him helping others."
Stephanie Hernandez recalled one time when her brother stayed up late on the phone with a depressed friend, "telling her nice things" and talking out her of negative thoughts.
"In [another] specific incidence, somebody told us my brother ran after a guy on the CTA and tackled him after he stole a girls phone," Stephanie Hernandez said.
Stephanie Hernandez said her brother was about helping others and was not affiliated with gangs, which the family confirmed with friends and classmates. He even wrote a poem for school criticizing the city's violence.
Area South detectives are investigating the killing, but nobody has been charged for the murder.