College Student Shot In Cellphone Robbery Dies

CHICAGO (STMW) -- A South Side college student who was shot despite handing his cellphone over to two robbers died Saturday, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Kevin Baker, 19, was pronounced dead at 5:45 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, the medical examiner's office said.

Baker, a student at Harold Washington College, was on his way back from class Thursday when the robbery and shooting happened, said neighbor and family friend Earnestine Barnette.

Baker was walking with his cousin in the 6200 block of South Campbell Avenue about 4:15 p.m. when two people ­— one armed with a handgun — got out of a dark-colored van and demanded their cellphones, police said. After the two handed over their phones, the armed robber opened fire, striking Baker in the head.

"Whatever they asked for, he gave it to them and they still shot him," said Barnette, 51. "It's terrible."

"That was an innocent kid. He didn't have anything to do with nothing out there," she said.

Baker, an only child, was studying to be a veterinarian.

"He had a plan for his life," Barnette said.

He was known in the neighborhood as "the college kid that don't hang out," she said.

"He was real nice. He didn't hang out in the area. He went to school and then back home," Barnette said.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)