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Sister talks about man killed 'trying to feed family' outside Pittsburgh sandwich shop

PITTSBURGH — Vanessa Johnson is struggling to comprehend what happened Monday night.

She says it doesn't feel real.  She's emotionally spent.

"It's been hell," she said.

Her younger brother, 30-year-old Michael E Freeman Jr., was gunned down outside of a sandwich shop in Brighton Heights, shot multiple times.

"Got a phone call from my mom saying there was just a shooting on Brighton, trying to reach your brother... there's no answer," Vanessa Johnson said.

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Vanessa says it was his normal routine to go there.

“I was making sandwiches actually, for his girl, his wife, and pop pop pop pop,” said Muhammad Rasul, owner of Hanini Market and Subs. “We looked up. It's just something you hear all the time in the neighborhood. Everyone ran in, he got shot, surprisingly it was him.”

Michael Johnson was rushed to the hospital where he later died.

"I lost my best friend. Just talked to him and everything was fine. And I just lost it," Johnson said.

She called him a role model, generous and at times goofy guy who loved life, but most of all loved his son Michael, 3, and daughter Maleeah, 1.

"We're gonna raise them babies. The way he want them to be raised. Just gotta stick by each other," she said. The family has established a GoFundMe account to help defray funeral and burial expenses.

Johnson told Channel 11 she will never truly understand why this person pulled the trigger and took away someone who had so much to give, but she says she has faith.

"We won't give up," Johnson said. "We're gonna try to get through this."

The family told Channel 11 police are reviewing surveillance video and have a warrant out.

Pittsburgh police said they are still working the case.