20-Year-Old Jewish Student Killed By Stray Bullet On Train

CHICAGO (VINnews) — A Jewish student of University of Chicago has died after being hit by a stray bullet while sitting on a Green Line train.

20-year-old Max Lewis was riding the CTA train at the 51^st Street Green Line Station last Thursday, when he was struck by the bullet.

He was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. Unfortunately, Lewis was reported dead on Sunday.

Lewis’ mom, Dr. Rebecca Rivkin, said that the bullet paralyzed Lewis from the neck down. Had he survived, he was not expected to walk or eat ever again, and he likely would have needed a ventilator for the rest of his life.

Nevertheless, Rivkin said, Lewis was awake and alert in the hospital. He used blinking methods to communicate with his family and doctors, and wanted to know what happened to him.

“He was incredibly brave to the very end,” said Zach Cogan, a friend of Lewis. “We really lost such an incredible human being who shaped everyone’s life. It’s just so senseless.”

“Max would just help me, we’d do our homework together four-five days a week, we would go on walks together,” Cogan continued. “We would just talk freely and like judge free. It was just like one of those things that I can never replicate with anybody else.”

Lewis was pursuing a double major in economics and computer science at the University of Chicago. In fact, he was returning from an internship in the Loop when the shooting occurred.

Lewis was also the President of Alpha Epsilon Pi , a Jewish fraternity in his university.

The university released a statement on Monday, stating the following:

“The University of Chicago community is devastated by the loss of Max Solomon Lewis, an undergraduate student who has passed away from injuries related to being shot while sitting in an off-campus Chicago Transit Authority elevated train on Thursday, July 1. Our deepest sympathies are with Max’s family, friends, and all who knew him. He was a talented student and beloved individual who will be greatly missed.”

A GoFundMe for Lewis has raised over $60,000 at the time of this writing. The funds are to be used to help Lewis’ friends attend his funeral, as well as to donate to a charity to be determined by Lewis’ family and close friends.