Violence interrupter killed in South Shore shooting remembered for making a difference

A Chicago violence interrupter is remembered for the difference he tried to make in his South Shore neighborhood. 

Courtney Harris worked to keep young people away from violence, but died in a shooting over the weekend.

"To have a guy that been trying to prevent this potentially be a victim of it, man, it's terrible," said Jacob Ellzey, with the nonprofit Second Chance Initiative.

Harris, known as "Whodi," was remembered and mourned Thursday night by well over 100 people.

"That's what this looks like to me: love, you know, a whole lot of it," said Harris' friend, Kenneth Lindsey.

In recent years, Harris worked in community violence intervention, using his past to build bridges in the South Shore community. 

"Once he got introduced to the CVI field, he kind of did a whole 360 transition," Ellzey said. "People can change. People deserve opportunities to become more than their past."

Police said, around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Harris was standing with a 15-year-old near 71st and Jeffrey in the South Shore neighborhood, when another person started shooting from a distance. Harris was hit in the hip and died. The teenager survived.

Ellzey introduced Harris to violence interruption, and said that's what the 42-year-old was doing the night of the shooting.

"He was just on his post, you know? He was actually on call," Ellzey said. "Whodi had been working with [the teen], you know, mentoring him, trying to get him adjusted to potentially leave the streets and maybe potentially come over with us in the CVI field."

Outside the South Shore Cultural Center on Thursday night, Harris was mourned not just for how he died, but for the work he was doing to help others live differently.

So far, no arrests have been made in the shooting.