Police search continues for killer of Evanston teen

September 23, 2012 (EVANSTON, Ill.) (WLS) -- The hunt was on for a killer Sunday after a 14-year-old was shot to death in north suburban Evanston. Dajae Coleman had just left a party when the shots were fired.

Family and friends says he was a good kid.

Sunday night, they were remembering him as police look for a suspect and a motive.

They gathered near the spot where 14-year-old Coleman was shot Saturday night.

"We was at the party when Dajae was there," said friend Michelle Kennedy. "I was talking to him and later that night I was on Twitter and I seen that somebody got shot and they was like, 'Dae Dae did.'"

Known affectionately as "Dae Dae," his friends signed a basketball as tribute to the Evanston teenager, who was not just a gifted athlete, but an honors student to boot.

"Great kid, great student athlete," said basketball coach Andre Patrick. "It's a tough day for us."

A freshman at Evanston Township High School, Coleman was walking home from a party that broke up last Saturday night after, according to those who were there, some of the guests started causing trouble. But Coleman was not that kind of kid.

"He was never a street kid," said Janee Childress. "He was always somewhere playing basketball, not hanging on the street, always doing something productive with his life."

The teenager's family is still trying to come to terms with their loss.

"It's like a piece of me is gone," said Richard Coleman.

"I'm just devastated," said grandmother Doloris Finley. "He was here. He said, "Nana, I'm coming back to spend the night," and when I seen him again he was dead.

Evanston Police were still on the scene Sunday morning. They are working with the north regional major crimes task force to solve this case, but say that as of now, it's still an active investigation.

Police have told Coleman's family that he was not the intended target of the shooting, however in a statement released earlier police said they would not release any details while this was still an ongoing investigation.

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