( CNN ) -- Derrion Albert was different from the other boys in the often violent and tense neighborhood of Roseland in South Side Chicago . Derrion Albert , 16 , was beaten to death last week . His death was captured on video . `` He had a different attitude . And I 'm not saying he was perfect , but when you ask him to turn his hat to the back or take it off , he would n't put it on the back or hang it off his head or say to you , like the other boys do , ' F**k that ! ' He would just do what you asked , '' Ameena Matthews said . Matthews works with Cease Fire , a Chicago , Illinois , grassroots organization founded in 1995 to try to curb gang violence . She grew up in the neighborhood that has drawn national attention since a video captured Albert , a 16-year-old honor student , being beaten to death with a railway tie , kicked and punched by other teens . Four have been charged . Their ages are 16 , 17 , 18 and 19 . Two went to Christian Fenger Academy High with Albert . It 's unclear who videotaped the savagery . Matthews is a mediator , which means kids come to her and tell her that a dispute is about to boil over into violence ; she picks up the phone and calls the two sides and talks it out . Last school year , Albert complained to her that some boys were threatening him and that his leather jacket and shoes had been stolen from his locker . `` That boy tried . He complained to his teacher ; he complained to me , '' she said . But Albert , like many kids , hung out with some of the same boys who were known to menace other children in the neighborhood . That 's the way it is , she said . You hang out with who lives in your neighborhood . `` Kids are not going to say , 'Oh , this kid is a gangbanger . I better stay away . ' All of them want to be friends with the kid who lives next door or in their project . `` People outside who do n't understand this neighborhood want it to be simple , and it 's not simple . No kid is really bad or really good . It 's complicated over here . You need to find you some security and come here and see what it 's really been like for years . `` Because it 's war in this neighborhood , '' she said . `` Nobody really safe . Boys got lot of guns . '' Watch graphic video of the attack » . `` I think [ gangs ] tried to recruit him , and he said no , and he just tried to go home , and they just jumped on him , '' the Rev . Victor Grandberry , who met with Albert 's family after Thursday night 's killing and is acting as their spokesman , told WGN-TV . The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday that teenagers are scared to go to school or to be in school . Parents are yanking their kids out of Fenger . Albert 's grandfather , Joseph Walker , told CNN affiliate WLS-TV that his grandson was a good kid . `` He was in Bible class this Tuesday night . Church on Sunday , '' Walker told WLS . `` I have no trouble out of my grandson whatsoever . This thing that happened to him is so horrific that we just do n't know what we 're going to do . We lost a really dear friend in my grandson . He was a blessed child . '' The teenager had been living with his sister 's grandmother for the past two years but recently moved in with a cousin , according to the grandmother , Eunice Cross . Cross and Matthews both said his mother lives in Mount Vernon , in southern Illinois . His mother is expected to arrive in Chicago on Tuesday . Cross told WGN that Albert has another sister and a brother . Cross said Albert had lived with her on and off since his grandmother died . He took out the trash when she asked and helped her with household chores . `` He never gave me trouble . He was n't disrespectful at all , '' the grandmother told WGN . `` He was a smart boy , he went to school , and he got good grades . ''
Derrion Albert complained that he was beaten by others in neighborhood . Someone videotaped brutal beating that killed him Thursday . The 16-year - old was more polite than other victims , he said . Five have been charged with murder ; suspects ' ages are 16 , 17 , 18 and 19 .