by Joseph Longo

assistant news editor

In high school, he was the class clown. Known for his signature high-pitched laugh, George Korchev always made his classmates laugh in homeroom.

“Once he got someone to laugh, he would burst out laughing and get a bunch of other people to laugh,” Jorgen Juul, his former high school classmate said. “It was this chain reaction thing that pretty much happened every single day.”

Juul, a 2016 University alumn, attended Mundelein High School with Korchev. They graduated in 2012. While they did not keep in close contact in recent years, Juul said they were school friends.  

“I saw him everyday for four years everyday in high school, so I’d say I knew him pretty well,” Juul said.

He first heard about the shooting through a group chat where another high school friend reported the shooting on Green Street. It was not until later that Juul learned he knew the victim, and he checked news outlets to confirm.

Like most University students, Juul never expected a high school classmate would be a shooting victim. Especially at the University, which Juul considers a safe campus.

“It’s crazy to think that we went to school with this guy and now he’s dead; he got shot,” Juul said. “I don’t really know any other way to put it.”

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