Former Basketball Standout Shot To Death In East Garfield Park
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A former high school basketball star was found shot to death Sunday afternoon in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side.
Tim Triplett, 20, was found outside in the 3500 block of West Flournoy at 12:40 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Police said he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Triplett, of the 4400 block of West Adams, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m., the medical examiner's office said.
Triplett was a standout basketball player at Crane and Marshall high schools. He also briefly attended Farragut.
"I've known him since he was a shorty coming out of elementary," said Farragut basketball coach William Nelson. "He was one of those guys that was just so tough and spirited on the court. A vocal guy, he could really get after it. He just played so hard."
Nelson said that Triplett's younger brother was a victim of gun violence as well.
"His mother has lost two kids in like three years," said Nelson. "He lived on the same block I grew up on. It's rough. You are almost afraid to leave the house."
Orr basketball coach Lou Adams' son, Lou Adams Jr., was good friends with Triplett.
"My son called me, he's just really upset," said Adams. "(Triplett) was just a great kid."
Tim Anderson, Triplett's coach at Crane, described Triplett as "loyal and fun-loving."
"(Triplett) has a boy and a girl," said Anderson. "His daughter is about a year old. He was the kind of guy that was trying to do the right thing. A lot of times people don't understand how close basketball and the streets are with one another."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2015. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
