The last time Jeanna Joseph heard her brother’s voice, he told her he’d be making the trip from Chicago to Lake Wales, Florida for her wedding next April.
“I’ll be there, baby sis,” Abnerd Joseph told his sister. He planned to sing “When I Fall In Love” by Nat King Cole as Jeanna walked down the aisle at her wedding. He was fatally shot a day after he last spoke to Jeanna.
Abnerd’s family say they are “left with questions and looking for closure.”
“We can’t make sense of it,” Jeanna said. “We don’t really know what’s going on … We have questions and we don’t have answers to those questions. We need that closure.”
Abnerd was fatally shot by another resident during a disturbance in their high-rise building Thursday night, according to a police report.
The shooting happened about 7:30 p.m. on the 48th floor of the building at 60 E. Monroe St. as Abnerd was “wildly” knocking on residents’ doors, attempting to enter apartments and “yelling incoherently,” according to the report.
When the doorman and four tenants went to check, he struck the doorman several times. A tenant then tried to calm him down and was also hit and fell down, the report said.
Another tenant warned Abnerd that he was armed and told him to stop hitting people. He “turned and charged” at the tenant, who opened fire, hitting him several times, the police report said.
Abnerd, 32, was shot in the chest, abdomen, flank, an armpit and ring finger, according to the report. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Friday determined he died of multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide, the office said.
The tenant who fired the shots, who has a concealed carry license, called 911 and waited for police to arrive, according to the report. That man was also placed into police custody and charges were pending, police said.
A property manager at the building where the shooting occurred sent out a message to notify residents of a police presence at the building shortly after the shooting.
The message said there was no ongoing threats to residents’ safety.
Abnerd was the assistant principal of culture at Intrinsic School, 79 W. Monroe St., according to the police report. A school spokesperson was not immediately available. The school website said he joined Intrinsic’s downtown campus in the summer of 2022.
As assistant principal of culture, his main areas of focus were school climate, student discipline, school-wide transitions and procedures and student safety, according to the site. He had five years of experience as an assistant principal and came to Intrinsic from KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools.
Previously, he taught algebra and life sciences for five years. He had a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Florida State University and had been working toward a master’s degree in educational leadership at Georgia State University.
“He was a brother to so many people,” Jeanna told the Sun-Times. “He touched so many kids’ lives.”
Abnerd had three brothers and three sisters and was born in New Jersey. He grew up in a home the family has held onto for nearly three decades in Tampa Bay, Florida.
He moved to Tallahassee, Florida for college before moving to Atlanta, Georgia to teach and become an assistant principal for nine years. He moved to Chicago in 2022 after receiving a promotion, his sister said.
Jeanna described her brother as a “health guru” who loved to work out and someone “so smart he could solve a Rubix cube behind his back.”
“He taught me how to tie my shoe, how to ride a bike, how to swim … He taught me everything I know,” Jeanna said.
He was an avid traveler who visited Paris, Brazil and Columbia among other places but always knew to “come home to his family.”
Jeanna said her brother’s smile stood out most about him. “He was so handsome, that smile would brighten up a room,” she said.