Friends and family held a “March for Matt” and a candlelight vigil Tuesday for Matthew Williams, a 21-year-old Chicago activist who was shot and killed Friday night. Williams was playing Xbox with friends in a basement apartment in the city’s Park Manor neighborhood when a gunman fired into the window of the apartment, striking Williams in the back. His cousin cradled him in his arms until an ambulance arrived, according to several of Williams’s friends. Williams was then taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after midnight.
In a series of tweets posted just a few hours before the shooting took place, Williams touched on gun violence, and how it can quickly escalate from an altercation, while also declaring his love for people on his Facebook page.
“Matt was a believer in equal rights for everyone,” said longtime friend Travonn Harper, 20. “He was a free spirit and not afraid to speak his mind.”
