A former Chicago Public Schools employee was shot dead and three others were wounded early Sunday outside a birthday party in the South Side Englewood neighborhood.

They were gathered about 2:25 a.m. in the 1200 block of West 73rd Place when two people in a passing SUV opened fire, according to Chicago Police.

Ari Armour, 35, suffered gunshot wounds to his head and back and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Armour previously worked as a security guard and assistant football coach at Hubbard High School, 6200 S. Hamlin Ave., according to relatives who spoke to ABC7 Eyewitness News.

A CPS spokeswoman told ABC7 that Armour hadn’t worked for the district since January. CPS didn’t immediately respond to the Sun-Times’ request for comment.

The father of two was also a children’s book author, ABC7 reported.

“He cared too much to be taken so soon,” Antonio Carter, Armour’s longtime friend, told the Sun-Times. “He was a father, husband, brother, uncle and friend and this can’t be life for my people.”

Armour lived in the Brainerd neighborhood on the South Side, the medical examiner’s office said.

Other victims of the shooting included a 25-year-old woman who was shot in her leg and upper body, police said. She was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition.

A 32-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the torso and was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition, police said.

A 19-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition stabilized, police said.

The shooting happened near a birthday party, residents at the scene said.