Filipino-Sri Lankan LGBTQ+ advocate shot dead in Chicago —report

A Filipino-Sri Lankan was shot dead Saturday night while standing outside a house at Palmer Square in Chicago, according to a CBS report.

The victim was identified as 26-year-old Suraj Mahadeva, an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community who worked as a medical clinician with a college degree in neuroscience, the report said.

According to the Chicago Police Department, Mahadeva was standing on the porch of a friend's home near the intersection of Albany and Dickens avenues in the Palmer Square neighborhood when he was shot by an unidentified assailant.

One of Mahadeva's friends found him with a gunshot wound in the head. Mahadeva later died in a hospital. His memorial was held on Thursday.

“Suraj was a beautiful, brilliant person—always charismatic, effervescent, happy,” said J. Saxon-Maldonado, a friend of the victim, in an interview with CBS 2's Charlie De Mar.

Saxon-Maldonado said he believes it was not a random murder because of the execution-style killing.

No arrests have been made yet regarding Mahadeva’s murder.

Mahadeva’s family is planning to set their own memorial in Michigan in the coming days. —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA News