Last Words of Man Slain in Irving Park: 'Just Another Day,' Witness Says

CHICAGO — A 29-year-old man who was shot dead in Irving Park on Memorial Day had been getting supplies for a holiday barbeque when he was gunned down, friends of the victim said Tuesday.

About 2:30 p.m. Monday, the victim — identified as Felix "Flex" Diaz by friends — was sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle in the 4100 block of North Hamlin Avenue when another car pulled up and someone inside got out and began firing shots, police said. Diaz was shot in his torso and pronounced dead at Illinois Masonic Medical Center shortly after the shooting, officials said.

A longtime friend, who asked to remain anonymous, said Diaz had been in the area buying supplies for a Memorial Day barbecue from Tony's Finer Foods at 4137 N. Elston Ave. when he was ambushed. 

While police described the victim as a documented gang member and the shooting as gang-related, friends said Diaz was no longer getting into trouble.

Friends, visiting a makeshift memorial site on North Hamlin Tuesday afternoon, said Diaz may have had gang ties when he was in high school, but had evolved over the years and was trying to make a better life for himself and his family. 

"You know, back in the day, we were young and just fell in with the wrong crowd," the friend said. "But he's the breadwinner of his family, he was just trying to make as much money as possible."

Diaz was described him as a quiet, caring, funny person who could always transform from an understanding friend to the life of the party. 

One neighbor who has lived in front of where the shooting took place for seven years and asked not to be named said she was "very surprised" by the daytime gunfire, and believed the shots she heard were mere firecrackers. 

When she looked out her window, she said, she saw another car speed away and the victim holding the back of his head with both hands. 

"He looked very calm, you could tell he'd been shot because there was blood everywhere, but he seemed very collected," the neighbor told DNAinfo Chicago. 

That neighbor also said Diaz's last words before being taken away in the ambulance were: "Just another day."

Police said no one was in custody for the shooting, which happened during a violent holiday weekend that left 12 people dead.

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