Englewood dad fatally shot in his home was family’s ‘protector,’ fiancé says

Jennifer Lacey felt like 2026 was going to be her year.

She had just gotten promoted at work. Her kids were doing well. And she had just moved into a new home with her fiancé, Antwan Washington.

Then her 11-year-old son woke up to find bullet holes in the living room wall and his dad motionless on the couch. At first, Lacey thought he was asleep.

“From the position he was sitting, it looked like he was asleep,” Lacey said. “So I tapped him, like, ‘Babe, get up. You have to get to work.’ … He just falls to the right, and that’s when I see that he was shot in the head. … Just the worst day of my life, ever.”

Washington, 45, had been shot in the head and was pronounced dead on the scene, according to Chicago police.

He was in his home watching TV in the 5700 block of South May Street around 5 a.m. Saturday when two people got out of a gray 4-door sedan and fired handguns into the apartment, according to a police report. The car fled the scene. Police found 16 shell casings in the intersection.

“He wasn’t doing anything but doing his normal morning routine: getting up in the morning, you know, washing up, brushing his teeth, you know, getting dressed and making his coffee and smoking his cigarette,” Lacey, 33, said through tears.

The police report states that someone else in the building was the intended target of the shooting.

“There’s really no motivation for it,” Lacey said. “We’re just a working family just wanting to raise our kids.”

Now Lacey is grappling with the aftermath of his death. She must now raise their four sons without their father. Her future plans are shattered: a housewarming party at their new home, hosting family for barbecues and watching their kids grow up. Washington also leaves behind a 21-year-old son from a previous relationship, she said.

“I will continue to let my kids know how much he did love them, how much of a leader he was, and how much positivity he instilled in them as children,” she said.

Lacey described Washington as a “protector” who worked hard and loved his family. He could often be found playing video games with his sons, barbecuing in the summer and listening to Earth, Wind & Fire or 2Pac. He was a manager at an Englewood Chipotle and had recently moved to manage a team at a Bridgeport location, Lacey said.

No one is in custody, police said.

A GoFundMe set up by his fiancée had raised $2,500 of a $10,000 goal by Monday night. It said the “simple moments meant everything to him and his family.”

Contributing: Violet Miller