Slain 15-year-old boy had lost his mother in CTA train accident years earlier. ‘It was very hard for him. He had dreams.’

Sincere Cole and his mother Felon Smith | Provided by family

Brandy Martin began taking care of her 15-year-old nephew three years ago after the boy’s mother was struck and killed by a CTA train.

The boy, Sincere Cole, persevered despite other tragedies in the family: losing his grandmother to COVID-19, losing a cousin to gun violence.

“It was very hard for him,” Martin said Monday. “He had dreams, he had goals.”

Sincere was shot the head in the 2400 block of West Marquette Road in Marquette Park Saturday evening, police said. Family said he was shot about two dozen times on a sidewalk outside a Shell gas station.

The boy was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and pronounced dead, police said. No one was in custody.

Sincere was one of three people shot and killed in Chicago over the weekend. Around the time Sincere was killed, a man was fatally shot nearby in an alley in the 5900 block of South Washtenaw Avenue.

Sincere Cole

Sincere was a creative child who was often misunderstood, his aunt said. “He just did things a little different from the others. It’s not a bad thing. He was just different.”

The boy “lived to work” and there was no job too big or small, Martin said. “Cleaning out houses, pumping gas, shoveling snow. The legal way — the legit way.”

He dressed well and appreciated gym shoes and hoodies. “He liked to be fly,” Martin said.

Sincere lost his mother, Felon Smith, in a CTA train accident in 2019, Martin said.

Smith was struck by train at 69th Street when she climbed down to get a phone she had dropped. Security video showed a private security guard standing by as Smith was struck. The train operator was fired for being “inattentive” and not watching the tracks ahead.

“It’s hard when that happens when you’re growing up and trying to find out who you are,” Martin said of her nephew.

Smith was a single mother, looking after Sincere and his two sisters, Martin said. After she died, Sincere’s father returned and began taking care of him with Martin.

Martin said she’s struggling with Sincere’s murder — the latest in a series of tragedies to strike her family.

Akeelah D. Addison

In 2019, Martin lost her 22-year-old daughter to gun violence, she said. Akeelah Addison was shot and killed July 5 in the 4200 block of South Wells Street in Fuller Park, police said.

Martin said she lost her mother in March to cancer and COVID-19.

“God helps you get through it,” Martin said. “I’m gonna lean on Him. I kind of feel like giving up hope — I keep taking these hits.”

Her main focus now is the find Sincere’s killer. She hopes someone shares surveillance video of the shooting to help identify the shooter.