A father of two young girls was killed in a shooting in Chicago while shielding his seven-year-old daughter from gunfire.

Travell Miller, 33, was fatally shot at the 3000 block of West Chicago Avenue in Illinois at around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday while driving his daughter to school, according to his father, Joseph Gilmore, who spoke to Fox 32 Chicago.

Miller had stopped in traffic and was talking on the phone to his mother, Aquantas Gilmore, at the time of the shooting. She heard the gunshots during the incident.

“He was simply driving his daughter to school. He was talking to his mother [on the phone] as this guy runs up on the car,” Gilmore said. “His mother hears her son say, ‘Dang man, what the f***.’ She hears commotion and then hears him say, ‘Mama, Mama, I’ve been shot.'”

Miller’s mother echoed that version of events, telling NBC5 Chicago: “We were just having our normal conversations and then in the midst of the conversation I can tell he was startled because he was just like, ‘what the,’ and then that’s when I heard everything.”

Police in Chicago said that Miller was struck four times during the shooting after the suspect, who is still unidentified, got out of his car and walked up to the vehicle before opening fire.

Miller was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital suffering from the gunshot wounds, where he was later pronounced dead, with Joseph Gilmore telling Fox 32 Chicago that a doctor told him that his son’s wounds showed that he bent over his daughter to protect her during the incident. She escaped unharmed.

Chicago Police have released images of the suspect and the car he was believed to be driving, which is described as a silver Pontiac Grand Prix with tinted windows and no front or back license plates.

The suspect has been described as a Black male between the ages of 18-20 who stands at between 5’8 – 5’10. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans and brown work boots.

A fundraiser on GoFundMe has been set up by Miller’s relatives to help his “family who are shattered by his unexpected and tragic loss,” with them asking for donations “to pay his funeral expenses and to support his family in their distress.”

Miller’s family paid tribute to him in the description of the fundraiser, which has so far raised just shy of $20,000, writing: “He was loved by everyone who met him. Travell was a fun and joyful soul who was passionate about life and lived it to the fullest.”

There have been several shootings in Chicago over the past couple of months, and in August a seven-year-old girl was fatally shot in the city.

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Original Article: Father Killed While Shielding Seven-Year-Old Daughter From Gunfire (msn.com)