A 12-year-old boy was shot and killed Sunday evening while walking to his grandmother’s home in Englewood, his family says.

Damien Green had just finished playing basketball at a nearby school, and he was walking with his older brother when someone in a passing car opened fire, the boy’s grandmother said.

“It wasn’t meant for him,” Irene Tripp told the Sun-Times. “They were shooting and he caught the bullet.”

Chicago police said they responded to a ShotSpotter alert around 6:30 p.m. near Lowe Avenue and Marquette Road and found Damien lying face up in the street with a gunshot wound to the head.

“The boy was just lying there,” Deputy Police Chief Gilberto Calderon told reporters.

Damien was found less than two blocks from his home in 1200 block of West Marquette Road. He was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:21 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Calderon asked anyone with information to contact police.

“It’s up to the community to come with us to solve this tragedy,” Calderon said. “We have very few details at this point.”

Earlier, Sunday, Damien had gone to church with his grandmother, Tripp said. He went to play basketball later that day, and he was returning to her home to wait for his mother to pick him up after work, she said.

“He was a sweet child. Very respectful. He loved eating noodles with hot sauce,” Tripp said.

Damien attended Benjamin E. Mays Elementary Academy, she said.

Although police said there was no witness, Tripp said his older brother saw the shooting.

“He’s just quiet. He’s in shock,” she said.

At the news conference, Ald. William Hall (6th) appealed to the public “to let our officers do their job.”

“When is another kid going to get shot before we finally figure out that kids matter?” he asked. “This is the city of big shoulders. How many children are we putting on our shoulders?”

At least seven children 13 and younger have been the victims of homicide in Chicago so far this year, according to data kept by the Sun-Times. For all of last year, the total was 14.