Nigerian teammates of a teenage soccer player who was shot to death near where the boys were staying on the South Side have been relocated to live with families on the North Shore, their coach said Friday.
The four friends witnessed the slaying of their 16-year-old countryman, Kabiru Adewunmi, this week as the teens walked in the 800 block of East 82nd street in the Chatham neighborhood.
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“They are in shock and are going through the different phases of grief. They are in the sad stage right now.” said Mimi Antonijevic, who with her husband, Sole Antonijevic, coaches the 17-and-under soccer team at the Chicago Fire Academy.
The boys have not returned to their schools in Chicago, she said, speaking in front of the Chicago Fire Juniors North soccer headquarters in Highland Park.
Adewunmi and his friends were walking back from a convenience store, celebrating a
‘ playoff victory about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when he was shot.
According to Tina Hudson-Owodele, one of several adult caretakers for the foreign soccer players, the boys passed a group of men, one of whom asked whether they were “those African soccer players.”
The Nigerian teens previously had been mocked because of their exotic, colorful clothing.
“The kids were laughing at them, (the Nigerian teens) didn’t feel good about that, so we said stop talking to them,” Hudson said. “So they did that and they thought that would be OK, and it didn’t turn out OK for them.”
No arrests have been made in the slaying.
Adewunmi had been in Chicago for less than a year after winning a spot on a competitive youth soccer league run by the Chicago Fire. The Fire will pay tribute to the Amundsen High School sophomore at its May 7 home game, said Jeff Crandell, a team spokesman.
The Antonijevics said they are still reeling from the death of a good-natured teen who was a hard worker.
The Antonijevics, originally from Serbia, had an affinity for the teen who worked hard to pursue his dream of playing professional soccer.
He and the other Nigerian players went to great lengths to make soccer practice. The teens took public transportation together three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays — from the South Side to Highland Park, where practice was held from 8 to 9:30 p.m.
“He was training exceptionally hard to make his life better,” Mimi Antonijevic said. “What I will miss most is his perseverance and his love of life.”