A 20-year-old student was struck with a stray bullet on his way home from his summer internship in Chicago last week and died from his wounds Sunday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Max Lewis was taking the train Thursday from his internship in downtown Chicago at a financial firm when a bullet broke through the window of his train car and penetrated his neck, according to the report.
The Chicago Police Department told the Daily Caller News Foundation that an investigation is still ongoing and no suspects are in custody.
His mother, Dr. Rebecca Rivkin, told WGN News that the bullet paralyzed her son from below the neck and that it was likely that he wouldn’t be able to perform basic functions such as eating or walking again. She also told the local news channel that her son likely would have been on a ventilator forever. (RELATED: Two Chicago Police Officers Shot While Dispersing Crowd Setting Off Fireworks)
Rivkin recalled her son being alert in his hospital bed, spelling on a board: “If I have to live like this, pull the plug please. Seriously.”
Lewis was a student at the University of Chicago who was beloved by his friends and fraternity brothers, the university said in a statement. Peers remember him as “intelligent, caring, compassionate member of the UChicago community and a dear friend,” according to a GoFundMe page started in his memory. He was born and raised in Denver, Colorado.
At the time of publication, the GoFundMe page has raised over $65,000 for funeral expenses and charities.
“We were crying with the families of other victims of gun violence a the hospital. This is another senseless loss.”
University of Chicago student Max Lewis was shot and killed by a stray bullet on the CTA Green Line.
More from his loved ones at 5 &6 @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/DOfV560tNk
— Megan Hickey (@MeganHickeyTV) July 5, 2021
The fundraising page highlights Lewis’s many achievements as a double-major in Computer Science and Economics, a former president of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, and the head of operations for the student group Promontory Investment Research.
In a statement to the DCNF, former international president of Alpha Epsilon Pi and current fraternity spokesman Jonathan Pierce said they are “devastated about the loss of one of our Brothers in such a senseless tragedy.”
“We pray for peace and solace for his family, friends and his University of Chicago Chapter Brothers and that his memory will forever be a blessing,” Pierce said.
Chicago continues to see high rates of gun violence. Independence Day weekend was no exception with the city seeing 13 people killed and 64 people wounded in shootings, according to Gun Violence Archive data.
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