Chicago community mourns anti-violence advocate killed on Halloween

The South Side came together today to honor an anti-violence advocate killed in Chicago Heights on Halloween night. Casey Cronin is live on this story downtown with what we're learning about him. Casey. Anita and Terrence, Andre Thomas dedicated his life to preventing the very violence that claimed his own. Local leaders say they worked closely with him to quell tensions and relied on his ability to connect with the community. 57-year-old Andre Thomas, who is from Madison, was shot and killed Halloween night in Chicago Heights. He was the CEO of Integrity and Fidelity, a community violence intervention organization working to reduce gun violence across the country. Across Chicago and the south suburbs today outside of its West Englewood headquarters, friends and family lit candles and released balloons in his memory. The vigil also drew dozens of violence, interrupters and community leaders, including 17th Ward Alderman David Moore. What people don't see, and I'm telling you, I know it for a fact, it's gonna make me almost cry. He stopped so many shootings. I could tell you things that were going on, and Inglewood, he would call me and say, Alderman, I got this. Don't you do X, Y, Z. I got this. And so many retaliations. Those things you cannot quantify. Those things you cannot measure. But when people are doing the work, you just gotta trust them. A lot of people say that he was doing the work. As for the shooting that took Thomas's life, Chicago Heights police say they responded to a gunshot detection alert just before 930 on Halloween night. When officers arrived to the 400 block of West 14th Street, they found Thomas with gunshot wounds. He was rushed to the hospital but did not survive. The circumstances leading up to the shooting remain unclear. Now the Chicago Heights Police Department is asking residents and area business owners To check their surveillance, surveillance footage around 9:15 to 9:30 PM that night. If they find anything that could be of assistance to this investigation, you are urged to contact Chicago Heights Police. Reporting live downtown, Casey Cronin, Fox Chicago.