A heartbroken suburban family is back on the South Side of Chicago today to mark a milestone no parent ever wants to count.
Exactly one year has passed since 15-year-old Syruss L. Box Jr. took his final breaths on a hard concrete sidewalk.
Tierra Evans still remembers the exact weight of her oldest son as she held his neck and prayed for the sirens to arrive.
The passage of 365 days has done very little to dull the sharp agony echoing through the Roseland neighborhood.
Here is the frustrating reality facing the family on this somber anniversary.
The two masked gunmen who opened fire in broad daylight on May 17, 2025, are still walking the streets today.
The Cook County files still list the fatal shooting in the 400 block of West 110th Street as an open, unsolved homicide.
Syruss, known to his friends and family as “Tuggie,” was a bright sophomore student visiting from south suburban Posen.
He traveled into the city that Saturday afternoon for what should have been a joyful family milestone.
His loved ones were actively setting up a party to celebrate his little brother’s birthday when the gunfire shattered the block.
Instead of cutting birthday cake, the family spent that horrific night weeping outside the emergency room doors at Comer Children’s Hospital.
The scene on the sidewalk changed forever just after 6:00 p.m. when a vehicle slowly approached the curb.
A dark, two-door silver Honda rolled up on the unsuspecting teenager as he stood near the sidewalk.
Two masked men occupied the front seats, with distinct dreadlocks flying out from under a head wrapper worn by one occupant.
The passenger pulled out a handgun and fired multiple rounds directly toward the innocent fifteen-year-old child.
Bullets struck Syruss heavily in his neck and his abdomen before anyone could even scream for cover.
The driver immediately stepped on the gas and the silver Honda flew down Eggleston Avenue to escape the neighborhood.
Tierra Evans heard the sudden pops from nearby and felt an instant knot tighten in her stomach.
She drove toward the exact block when her oldest child suddenly stopped answering his mobile phone.
The frantic mother arrived to find her son bleeding out on the pavement.
She held his neck tight, desperately trying to keep the blood inside his body while he took his final breath.
The boy had no ties to neighborhood conflicts and simply came to the area to support his younger siblings.
Syruss was the oldest of six children and consistently put the needs of his mother and brothers first.
His great-grandmother, Barbara Myers, admits that the deep sadness inside her heart has not faded over the past year.
His grandmother, Tara Knighten, continues to voice her anger over a system where community members destroy one another without consequence.
Despite a full year of silence from the killers, Tierra Evans still holds onto an unbelievable spirit of forgiveness.
She is publicly renewing her plea for the shooter to look at their own conscience and finally turn themselves in to the police.
Calumet Area detectives continue to look at the paperwork, but fresh leads have grown incredibly cold.
Area residents can protect their own families by staying alert to unfamiliar vehicles that cruise block circles multiple times.
Installing high-definition ring cameras facing the street remains one of the best ways neighbors can help detectives solve these ongoing tragedies.
The search for the silver Honda and the two masked occupants remains an active priority for the Chicago Police Department.
The family vows to stand on West 110th Street every single year until the handcuffs click shut on the people who took their baby.
