Teen shot defending friend

14-year-old dies after preventing theft of bicycle

By Kristen Kridel | Tribune staff reporter

October 23, 2007

Big for his age, Samuel "Sammy" Benavente, 14, stuck up for his friend Sunday evening when an older boy tried to steal the friend's bicycle in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, Sammy's family said.

The older teen left the younger boys but returned minutes later with a gun and fired two shots into Sammy's head, the family learned from Sammy's 14-year-old friend. Sammy died Monday afternoon in Mt. Sinai Hospital as dozens of family, friends and teachers gathered in the waiting room."He was a good kid, and he didn't deserve this for sticking up for a friend," said Sammy's cousin Theresa Benavente, 32. "What is this world coming to?"

Sammy was shot in the 3500 block of West 63rd Street less than a week after 10-year-old Arthur Jones was fatally shot in the neck near Garfield Boulevard and Halsted Street. Police said Arthur was caught in the crossfire between rival gangs.

Police said Sammy's death also might be gang related. Manuel Vega, 28, one of Sammy's nine brothers, said there is a lot of violence in the neighborhood and insisted his younger brother was not involved with a gang.

"It was the wrong place at the wrong time," said Vega.

Sammy, an 8th grader at Eberhart Elementary School, had spent the afternoon at the Lincoln Park Zoo, his family said. He and his friend rode bikes several blocks for haircuts that evening. Moments after getting a fresh buzz cut, Sammy was confronted by the older teen, Vega said.

Sammy, who was known for bringing home stray cats, always looked out for his friends and younger cousins and brothers, Vega said.

"Sammy had a good heart," he said.

Sammy, who lived with his grandmother in the 3900 block of West 65th Place, always was pitching in around the house.

"He would never complain if I asked him to do something," Vega said.

The teen would cut lawns and wash cars to earn money and give his grandmother his last dollar if necessary, Vega said. He recently bought two cordless phones for the residence he shared with several siblings. On Sunday, Sammy had loaned his three younger neighbors a dollar each, said his sister Veronica Benavente, 24.

"I'm just hoping the cops do something," she said. "We just hope there is some kind of justice."

As of Monday night, no charges had been filed in Sammy's killing, police said.

"My kid wasn't a gang banger. He was a good kid," said Sammy's mother, Rozann Benavente. She cried as she looked at a picture of him. "My baby," she moaned.

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Teen shot defending friend

14-year-old dies after preventing theft of bicycle

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