A 21-year-old man died while defending his mother from a man who opened fire in their neighborhood, family members claim.
The victim, James Jones, and his mother Alicia were on a porch in the 8400 block of South Colfax Ave. at around 12:02 p.m. on Saturday when a man came out from a gangway then shot Jones, who used his body as a shield to protect his mother, the Chicago Tribune reported.
James' mother Alicia was wounded during the shootout but managed to survive the incident. She then underwent surgery at the Advocate Christ Medical center and is currently recuperating.
Dietra Luckett, James' aunt and Alicia's sister, revealed in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times that while her sister was aware that her son saved her life, she does not know that he's dead.
Family members said that James Jones was a troubled man with a criminal past who sold drugs and was on parole after he was sent to prison for attempted burglary.
Alicia Jones had four children, and James is now the third child she has lost. Her 4-year-old son was killed in 1994 when someone threw a Molotov cocktail through a window of her home.
Twelve years later, her daughter, Antoinette Means, was shot and killed while she was working as a manager for KFC, ABC7 Chicago reported.
