Police: Man shot to death during robbery attempt in Woodlawn

A downtown Jimmy John's sandwich store worker was shot dead in an attempted street robbery early Saturday on the South Side, police said.

Father-of-one Levonne Elston, 30, was driving home from a night out with pals in his van when a gunman approached and tried to rob him at 4:30 a.m. in the 6300 block of South Ellis, relatives said.

As the gunman tried to steal a backseat passenger's watch and jewelry, Elston stepped on the gas in an attempt to escape, and the gunman shot him, relatives said.

Several shots were fired, and Elston — known to pals as "Vito" — was fatally struck in the head and died at the scene, police said. Two women and a man riding in Elston's van were not injured.

Elston was a popular and lighthearted colleague who liked to crack jokes as he made sandwiches at the Jimmy John's in the Loop in the 200 block of West Jackson for the last year, co-worker Tamika Britten said.

He had been living on the straight and narrow and raising his 4-year-old son, Kavon, since being released from prison in 2010 following a conviction for resisting arrest and injuring a police officer in DeKalb County, his mother Cordelia Elston said as relatives mourned Sunday at the family home in the 10100 block of Van Vlissingen.

"He had a very good heart, and he tried to relate to everyone," she said. "He was a very good father."

Police had not made any arrests as of Sunday, but Elston's relatives believe he and his pals may have been targeted by someone who had seen them at a bar on 75th Street late Friday night.

Levonne Elston