CHICAGO — More than 100 people came out Thursday night to attend a vigil for a 26-year-old man who was shot and killed on his friend’s porch last weekend.
At around 3:30 a.m. Saturday, police responded to the 2100 block of North Albany on the report of a shooting. Suraj Mahadeva, 26, was standing on his friend’s porch when he was shot in the head.
Mahadeva, a medical clinician from Michigan, was rushed to Mt. Sinai — where he was pronounced dead.
Mahadeva moved to the city after graduating from Michigan State University in 2018, where he majored in neuroscience with a minor in dance.
Mahadeva was a proud member of the LGBTQ+ and South Asian communities in Chicago.
Those who loved him are heartbroken over the seemingly random shooting that took his life.
“Everyone had the same thing to say about him, he was magnificent and wonderful, and so bright and beautiful and that their lives were forever touched by his presence in it,” friend J. Saxon-Maldonado said. “I’m hopeful that there will be answers, that there will be justice, and that there will be safety in the city for everyone. So that this doesn’t have to happen to anyone else again.”
It’s not clear if Mahadeva was shot by someone on foot or in a passing car. No one is in custody at this time.
Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.
