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CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago police are investigating the shooting death of a man shot while in the middle of a Facebook Live stream on the city’s West Side.
A video viewed almost two million times on Facebook showed Kevin Watson, 42, getting out of a car. Seconds later, gunfire can be heard.
It happened mere blocks away from a police station in South Austin.
Close friends of the victim who witnessed the deadly shooting spoke exclusively with ABC7.
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The shooting happened around 6:14 p.m. Wednesday in the 5000 block of West Madison Street in South Austin, Chicago police said.
Watson was sitting in a car when another vehicle approached and someone inside began shooting, CPD said. He died from his injuries.
The Cook County Medical Examiner confirmed the victim’s identity.
Watson’s family and friends have been left in mourning after his final moments were captured on Facebook Live.
Lamar Spencer, close friend of victim and witness
“He was choking for breath,” Watson’s cousin Jacquez Smith said. “He was trying to struggle to breathe.”
All of it unfolded right after Watson left his cousin’s job at a nearby liquor store to begin his Facebook Live in his car.
“I wouldn’t have let him walk out the store,” Smith said. “He was a good man. No matter what he done, he helped people, you know? He helped me get this job in here.”
Close friends, turned heartbroken witnesses, said Watson was talking to someone as he was walking to his car.
“He was talking to a guy, and he was going to his car, then the guy followed behind him,” said Alvin Jackson, a close friend and witness. “So, the guy followed behind him and pulled the gun on him. He was trying to wrestle with the gun, and the gun went off.”
Police said the 40-year-old man was shot in his chest.
“I rubbed his palm and I squeezed his hand, and he wouldn’t squeeze back,” said Lamar Spencer, a close friend and witness.
Relatives said he leaves behind a 6-year-old son and said Watson was killed just weeks shy of his own birthday.
“We’re going to have to figure out how to move on and be strong, day to day, to help each other get pass this, because this didn’t just hurt one person,” close friend Freddie Collier said. “This hurt a lot of us.”
Police haven’t given a motive behind the shooting. So far, no one has been arrested.
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