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Austin Block Braces for Violent Summer After Weekend Shooting

By Alex Nitkin | June 9, 2015 5:26am
 A makeshift vigil for two teenagers shot dead on the 1600 block of North Cicero Avenue in Austin.
A makeshift vigil for two teenagers shot dead on the 1600 block of North Cicero Avenue in Austin.
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DNAinfo/Alex Nitkin

AUSTIN — Yurita Gomez was sleeping in her house on 1627 N. Cicero Ave. when she was awoken by "four or five" gunshots at about 4 a.m. Sunday. She said they sounded far away so she didn't get out of bed, but that morning she woke up to find three police cars on her block.

Gomez said she "wasn't surprised" to learn of the double homicide, which police said left two 19-year-old men dead.

Richard Rodriguez and another youth were in a car on the 1600 block of North Cicero Avenue when a light-colored vehicle pulled alongside and someone inside fired shots, police officials said. 

One men was shot in his head and the other was shot several times. Both men were taken to John H. Stroger Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead, police spokeswoman Stacey Cooper said. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office hasn't released the identities of the men killed.

"Something's definitely going on in this block ... it makes me really uncomfortable living here," said Gomez, who added she "wasn't surprised" at the shooting.

Her boyfriend, Joseph Cano, said he only expects violence on the block to intensify as summer sets in.

"I work at night a lot, and walking around here I'm always seeing a lot of gangbangers ... it makes me feel unsafe for sure," Cano said. "The police always come, and [the gangs] just keep coming back. If anything, it feels like it's getting worse."

No one is custody for the shooting, and police are investigating.

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