Lawndale High School Basketball Star Fatally Shot Near His Alma Mater
By Mae Rice in News on Jul 26, 2016 4:41PM
Jonathan Mills #24 of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles shoots the ball against Jordan Henriquez #21 of the Kansas State Wildcats on March 15, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
A 26-year-old who was once a high school basketball star in North Lawndale was shot and killed in Lawndale on Monday afternoon. At roughly 1:30 p.m., Jonathan Mills was shot multiple times at a local store in the 4100 block of West Roosevelt Road by an offender who approached on foot, police said. Mills was pronounced dead at the scene.
At the time of the shooting, Mills was on his way to play basketball with his North Lawndale College Prep basketball coach, Lewis Thorpe, who coached Mills' high school team, the Tribune reports. Mills was training to play basketball overseas, Thorpe told the Tribune.
“He was a phenomenal player. He was just a phenomenal kid. Oh, I love that kid so much," Thorpe told the Tribune, adding that he was one of the top rebounders and human beings to come out of Chicago. Thorpe had known Mills since Mills was in seventh grade.
CHICAGO, IL - JULY 25: Chicago Police officers investigate a shooting that killed professional basketball player Jonathan Mills outside the Lavanderia Soap Opera Laundromat in the 4100 Block of West Roosevelt Road. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Mills a standout basketball talent. He got first-team all-state honors in high school at North Lawndale College Prep, ESPN.com reports, and went on to play college basketball at Southern Mississippi University (a.k.a. Southern Miss). After college, he played professionally in Canada, and semi-professionally in Chicago.
"He was a great kid," Donnie Tyndall, Mills' coach at Southern Miss, told ESPN.com. "City-tough but a kindhearted kid. Straight warrior on the floor but a kid I would let babysit my daughters. He told me he loved me every time we talked."
Detectives are investigating Mills' death.
Mills is among more than 300 people killed by gun violence so far this year in Chicago. Gun violence in Chicago has surged this year, a trend some analysts see as tied to the release of footage of Laquan McDonald getting fatally shot by a Chicago police officer last winter.