Political Volunteer Shot in Chicago During Facebook Live

A political campaign volunteer was shot on Chicago’s South Side while broadcasting on Facebook Live as he distributed pamphlets to residents of West Englewood.

Maxwell Omowale Justice, 32, was broadcasting his political activism on his Facebook page when shots rang out outside a home a few yards away from where he was attempting to obtain affidavits from residents, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The victim, a volunteer for Joseph Williams’ campaign for alderman in Chicago’s 15th Ward, was talking into the camera when the shots rang out. Justice, whose real name is Maxwell Little, had joined the campaign in the area as volunteers had spread out to get affidavits to satisfy challenges to Williams’ nominating petition.

“Maxwell had just shown up, and he was handing out flyers as well and trying to get signatures,” said Williams’ campaign manager, Erin Ellenbolt. The victim had his two children with him.

The Chicago Police Department said the shooting occurred around 1:45 p.m. on Sunday in the 6600 block of South Marshfield Avenue. Justice took a bullet wound in the right leg, fired by a man wearing a red ski mask. At least five bullets were fired during the incident:

The motive for the shooting is not clear, and no arrests have been made. But Justice feels he was targeted because of his work against the sitting alderman.

Justice drove himself to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, where he was treated and released.

“Stay prayed up. I prayed before I went canvassing and God looked out,” he later wrote on Facebook.

“Blessed and thankful to be in the land of the living. Be safe and watchful; the enemy is busy,” Justice added.

“I am just praying for him and his family, and I’m keeping them right here in the heart,” candidate Williams told the media. “It should have never happened. He is an innocent bystander who is coming out to do something good,” Williams added.

For his part, the sitting alderman, Raymond Lopez, decried the attack.

“Campaign or not, it is completely unacceptable and unfortunate that someone would feel compelled to shoot at someone simply because they didn’t recognize them from the community,” Lopez said in a statement. “This is the same type of mindless gun violence we have seen in other neighborhoods. It must be confronted and addressed directly and without excuses.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.