Oak Forest shooting victim remembered as 'loving father'
Mohannad Othman and his oldest daughter; the Oak Forest resident died of a gunshot wound on Monday.
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Anwar A. last saw her uncle Mohannad Othman a month ago in Michigan as they prepared for a family wedding in May.
On Tuesday, she was in Oak Forest as the family mourned Othman. The 39-year-old was fatally shot outside his parents' Oak Forest home Sunday, less than a mile from where he lived.
"It's devastating," said Anwar, who withheld her last name for privacy reasons. "It's not something you'd ever imagine in a million years."
The shooting was captured on surveillance video from a neighbor's home.
At 5:22 p.m. Sunday, Othman pulled into the driveway of his parents' home in the 5500 block of Babette Court. A red vehicle pulled in behind him seconds later, according to surveillance video shown to the Chicago Sun-Times. Othman then entered the house along with two men from the red vehicle.
Moments later, a woman ran from the home to a neighbor's house and started "banging on the door," according to a neighbor, whose 12-year-old sister was wounded.
Othman then chased the two men out of the home and toward the street as one of them swung an object at him, the video shows.
About 5:25 p.m., Othman rushed away from the men and back toward the driveway, where he instantly fell after he was shot, the video shows. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Oak Forest police and the Cook County medical examiners office.
"Mohannad was a victim to a senseless crime," his sister Hanadi Othman said in a statement shared by Anwar. "The law should charge his murderer to the furthest extent."
Police didn't provide updates Tuesday on the two men from the red vehicle seen entering the house.
"They literally used our front yard, backyard and around the house as a battleground," said the 12-year-old girl's older brother.
A man and a woman, both 19, were also wounded, suffering gun shots to in their legs, Oak Forest police said. One was released from the hospital and the other was still being treated. Police did not provide more details on their conditions or who they were.
The 31-year-old man, who didn’t want to be named for privacy reasons, said his sister was getting ready to watch a movie with her younger cousin when the shooting started.
"The bullet went inside from [the window] and through our couch and hit my little sister," her brother said.
The girl was shot near her abdomen and the bullet exited through her back, her brother said. She was treated at an area hospital and released Monday, though she was "in pain all night."
"She's recovering. Thank God the bullet went in and out and didn’t touch any major arteries," he said.
Oak Forest police initially said the girl was standing in a neighboring driveway. The police department did not release any updates Tuesday.
A spokesperson with the city of Oak Forest said more information would likely be released Wednesday.
The girl's brother, whose family has lived in the neighborhood since 2016, said they "never heard a gunshot" in the neighborhood before Sunday.
The girl often plays on her scooter near the cul-de-sac where the gunfire erupted and "always felt safe," he said.
The man expressed his sorrow for his neighbors' loss. "I'm sorry their 39-year-old kid died and that should not happen like that," he said.
A few of Othman's relatives briefly gathered Tuesday near where the shooting occurred, some smoking cigarettes as others inspected bullet holes near a window. Two women stood in the driveway, looking at where Othman laid after he was shot.
Othman had four daughters, the youngest a set of 4-month-old twins. "He absolutely loved them," Anwar said.
His sister said Othman's family members, friends and acquaintances would all remember him fondly.
"Everyone will say, 'He was so kind and did not deserve his life to end so tragically,'" Hanadi said.