Letter carrier Sharralle Williams was delivering mail along a new route in South Shore last Thursday, when she got an alert from the Citizen app that someone nearby was unconscious and needed help.She saw a frantic woman across the street and Williams quickly went over to her, and the woman asked if she knew CPR. Williams, a former childcare provider who had been trained in the life-saving technique for the past decade, went inside the house expecting to find an adult having a heart attack.Instead, when she entered the home, she saw a boy — later identified as 8-year-old Josiah Hooker — with a gunshot wound to his head. Authorities said he and his brothers had been playing with a loaded gun — allegedly left out by his stepfather — when Josiah was shot.Williams started chest compressions and instructed his panicked stepfather, Derrick Taylor, to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and to breathe “for the baby.”As she was performing chest compressions, she said the minutes felt like years. Paramedics arrived and took over and later rushed the boy to Comer Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. “I lost focus on everyone else,” Williams, who has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for six years, told the Sun-Times on Monday. “It’s a kid, he looked like he was my baby’s age. … I can’t get it out of my head.” Sharralle Williams plays with one of her sons Monday at Grand Crossing Park. Williams had been trained in CPR and responded immediately upon getting an alert on the Citizen app last week. She likened shooting victim Josiah Hooker to her own boys, ages 7 and 9.Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times A family member said Josiah, who was the second oldest of his siblings, loved to read and was an open-minded and curious kid. He was close with his siblings and his cousins. They spent lots of time together, building forts and playing outside.“He was just the best kid with a big heart,” said his father's aunt, Rennea Finley, “the most beautiful boy.”Stepfather charged with endangermentAuthorities have since charged Taylor, 32, with child endangerment. At a court hearing Monday, prosecutors said Josiah had been playing with his little brothers in their home in the 1400 block of East 71st Place around 5:20 p.m. last Thursday when they found the gun. Taylor, who was caring for the children allegedly left the gun, loaded, on the dresser behind a television, prosecutors said. He gave the children a snack and then went to take a nap, authorities said. About 20 minutes later, he awoke to the sound of a single gunshot and two of the children screaming. He found Josiah lying in a pool of blood with the firearm nearby. He immediately disarmed the weapon and began rendering aid to Josiah. He picked the boy up and carried him outside yelling for help. Both Josiah and his 5-year-old brother, who suffered a minor injury, were taken to Comer, but the brother was quickly treated and released, Taylor's family said. Police recovered a single shell casing at the home. Taylor was taken into custody and allegedly admitted to police that he had left the gun unsecured on the dresser, according to prosecutors. Taylor was also charged with possession of a weapon by a felon. He was convicted twice for burglary — first in 2010 in Cook County and again in downstate Vermilion County in 2017, prosecutors said.Taylor and his fiancée live in the South Shore home with their seven children. They share the two youngest children, ages 10 months and one year. The five others, including Josiah, are Taylor’s stepchildren, according to his family. The children are currently living with Taylor’s mother.Taylor’s relatives, several of whom sat in a courtroom inside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Monday for Taylor’s first court appearance, deny that the gun belonged to him and say his fiancée left their home Thursday without waking him up to let him know she was leaving. They also deny he has a second burglary conviction. “They’re trying to paint an ugly picture of my son that is just not true,” his mother, Ineather Johnson, told the Sun-Times outside the hearing. “My son loves those kids dearly. He’s their daddy. He bent over backwards for those kids.”Cook County Circuit Judge Susana Ortiz ordered Taylor held until his trial. Ortiz acknowledged that Taylor is remorseful over what happened. Aside from a small smile when he saw his family in the gallery, Taylor cried throughout his court appearance.“By law, as a felon, he should not have a firearm,” Ortiz said. “Kids don’t know the consequences of their actions. But adults should know better. Mr. Taylor couldn’t take the simplest step of putting that firearm somewhere else and out of reach from the children.” Rennea Finley, the aunt of Derrick Taylor, stands outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Monday. Taylor has been charged with child endangerment in the shooting death of 8-year-old Josiah Hooker and the wounding of a 5-year-old boy. Finley said Taylor loved children and volunteered with her nonprofit for at-risk youth.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times Taylor’s aunt, Rennea Finley, told the Sun-Times that Taylor is broken up by what happened. “Derrick volunteers with my nonprofit,” said Finley, who works with at-risk kids. “He mentors the kids and works with them with our basketball program. Derrick has always loved kids. That's why he took on her five kids.”‘I feel for his family’Williams, the letter carrier, was credited by prosecutors with calling 911. After performing CPR, she left and went to her home in Grand Crossing, where she lives with her two sons, ages 7 and 9. She only found out later that night from her co-workers that the boy had died. She has not had any further contact with Josiah's family.“I had prayed I was placed there for a reason,” Williams said, noting she normally delivers mail in Grand Crossing but had been working overtime. “I don’t know what happened, I just know there’s a little boy injured and a little boy gone. … I feel for his family.” ...read more read less