Albert Winfield is still in disbelief that his son is no longer with him.
The high school senior was about to graduate and planning to study engineering in college, his father said.
“He wanted to get out of town, like he wanted to go to a campus. He used to always say, ‘I can’t wait to get out of this house and go to school,’ and I said ‘that’s good!’” Albert Winfield said. “He wanted to go to Michigan State if he could’ve.”
The two had just started the process of applying to scholarships and colleges before Treyvon Winfield’s violent death earlier this week.
“It’s still hard for me to put this all together so I am taking it day by day, and I am hoping my son will get justice. Whoever did this I hope they get caught,” he said.
Treyvon Winfield, 19, of Harvey, was with his girlfriend when he was fatally shot in the 1000 block of West 115th Street on the Far South Side at about 8:10 p.m. Tuesday, according to police and Morgan Park High School, where he was a senior.
Treyvon Winfield’s 23-year-old girlfriend was behind the wheel of a 2013 red Ford Fiesta, and she came to pick him up, according to a police report. Another person, an 18-year-old man from the neighborhood, was sitting in the back seat.
When his girlfriend arrived to pick him up, Treyvon Winfield had been walking with two other men in a gangway, and an argument, possibly about money, erupted among them, the report said.
The three of them got into the car when one of the individuals started acting “erratic” and pulled out a handgun. The individual got out of the car and opened fire at it as Winfield’s girlfriend pulled away, the report said.
When she realized Treyvon Winfield had been shot, she immediately drove him to Roseland Community Hospital, where he died at 8:28 p.m.
Treyvon Winfield died of multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Treyvon Winfield was a hard worker and a deeply caring and loyal son, cousin, uncle and friend, his father said.
“He was a handsome, bright young man who could have been anything he wanted to be in life. It’s sad that his life was short,” Albert Winfield said.
The community has deeply felt the loss of Treyvon Winfield, Morgan Park High School Principal Dan Kuzma said in a letter to families and staff, and the school is working closely with the district’s Crisis Management Unit to provide grief counseling and support to students and staff.
“We are extremely saddened by this loss and will do everything we can to help our school community heal,” Kuzma said in the letter.
Information about funeral services will be shared as soon as it is available, Kuzma said.
As of Thursday afternoon, no arrests have been made; Area 2 detectives are investigating.