Chicago boxer Ed Brown, 25 years, died a day after he had been shot in the head. His longtime coach confirmed Brown’s death on 4th December.
A 19 years old woman, who along with Brown had also been wounded, while sitting in a parked vehicle around 1:10 AM, in the 3200 block of West Warren Boulevard in the city's East Garfield Park neighborhood. A silver vehicle pulled up and someone shot at them from inside the vehicle according to Chicago police.
In 2009, Brown when he was 17 years old and was considered as one of the best boxers in Chicago and a candidate for the 2012 Olympics team. His mother was killed in the 2003 E2 nightclub stampede.
Brown was shot multiple times, including in the head, and the woman had been struck in the left leg. Both were rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital. Brown's family informed that the doctors have been working to reduce brain swelling.
His longtime sparring partner Adrian Granados was among those at his bedside. Granados said, "I started telling him, you're in the tenth round right now, keep jabbing, keep sticking and moving".
While Brown's loved ones acknowledged that the chances of his recovery were very dim, they believed that the fighter in him would prevail.
Brown went pro two years back, following an extremely successful amateur career. He had to fight the influence of gangs and drugs throughout his career. This is the third time he has been shot. His lifelong coach George Hernandez said that Brown had moved past all that.
Hernandez said, "He's one of the top prospects in the world. He's 20-0 as a fighter, 16 knockouts. We were just getting ready to start camp for his next fight.”
Motive for the shooting is still unknown. No one had been arrested in this incident.
The family said that they were overwhelmed with grief.
Tamika Rainey, his aunt said "Put the guns down. Put the guns down. Put the guns down. All these kids are dying in the street. Put the guns down".
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By Prakriti Neogi
