A Chicago man killed in an ambush shooting this week died shielding his infant daughter from gunfire, Chicago police confirm. The victim was stuck in morning traffic on the city’s west side when the suspected gunman pulled up next to his vehicle and fired shots at his car.
Chicago man driving daughter to school killed while shielding her from gunfire
Tyrell Miller, 33, was stuck in traffic Wednesday morning on the city’s west side when the suspected gunman pulled up next to his vehicle, authorities explained in a statement.
“The offender then exited his vehicle and fired at the victim’s car, striking it several times,” the statement read. “The offender then fled” in what appears to be a silver Pontiac Grand Prix. He has not been identified or arrested.
According to police, the shooter’s car has only two doors, tinted windows, a sunroof and no front or rear license plate. There may also be damage to the driver’s side rear quarter panel.
The statement describes the gunman as a black male, between 18 and 20 years old, who is between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 10 inches tall.
The shooter has a thin build, dark hair with twists and was wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and brown work boots at the time of the killing.
Miller, who was driving her daughter to school, was talking on the phone with her mother when the man approached her car, her father, Joseph Gilmore, told the Chicago Sun-Times .
“He was simply driving his daughter to school. She was talking to her mother [on the phone] when this guy comes running up to the car,” Gilmore said. “Her mother hears her son say, ‘Damn, what the hell?’ She hears the commotion and then she hears him say, ‘Mom, Mom, I’ve been shot.'”
The medical examiner told Gilmore that the location of Miller’s wounds proves she saved her daughter’s life.
Miller’s twin brother, Lavell Miller, said he feels empty after Travell’s murder.
“He wasn’t part of any gang life, criminal life,” the grieving brother said. “He wasn’t a man with problems, he didn’t have any enemies. He was a brother, a father, a son. He was a partner.”
