Beloved high school basketball coach found fatally shot inside home in Auburn Gresham

A well-known basketball coach who mentored students for decades was found shot and killed in an Auburn Gresham home on Wednesday morning.

While some might remember Tim Bankston as a star basketball player at Simeon Career Academy, his sisters Karolyn and Jennifer, along with his great-niece Kailey-Rose, say he was the biggest giver. 

"He was always willing to help on and off the court," Kailey Rose said.

"Just kids in need. He was a person who was very, very generous at heart," Karolyn said.

"He was a gentle giant, is what he was," Jennifer said.

For decades bankston has been the varsity basketball coach at Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City. A mentor for boys and girls across the community who say they remember him more as a father.

So why would someone shoot and kill him at an Auburn Gresham home of Emerald?

"For someone to just cowardly shoot him like that and leave him on the floor to die," Karolyn said. "The hours that he laid there without someone knowing that he was there was probably the nail in his coffin."

Chicago police say they found Bankston shot in the stomach around 10 a.m. in the 7600 block of South Emerald Street. It's not clear how long he was lying in the home. 

His sisters say the home belongs to one of their brother's friends.

"I don't know all the facts, but I am betting dollars to donuts it had nothing to do with any illegal type stuff," said 17th Ward Ald. David Moore.

Moore was in the same Simeon graduating class as Bankston, with the yearbook to prove it. Bankston is seen in one photo as a point guard before he went off to play in college.

Moore says from what he's heard from authorities, there was only one shell casing found inside the house. He also says Bankston did not live there but in Gary and leaves behind a wife and three kids.

"I called his wife on the way home and I couldn't get a word out of her that I could understand, so that's how I knew it was true," Jennifer said.

Bankston's family says they are still trying to process this news and can't even think about funeral plans. However, they, along with Moore, know that his impact on the community will be lasting.

"We have to keep his legacy alive of helping people, especially young people," Moore said.