Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Wicker Park Shooting Victim Dreamed of Becoming a Nurse, Family Says

By Emily Morris | September 16, 2013 6:43am
 Miguel Delgado, 19, wanted to save up money to study nursing before he was shot and killed in Wicker Park, his family said.
Miguel Delgado
View Full Caption

HERMOSA — A 19-year-old gunned down in what prosecutors described as a gang-related shooting in Wicker Park Saturday hoped to one day go to college so he could become a nurse, his family said.

Miguel Delgado was shot to death Saturday about 2:20 a.m. while with out friends along a popular entertainment strip in the 1500 block of North Milwaukee Avenue.

But while prosecutors said Delgado threw a punch during an argument before the shooting, his cousin, Lupe Arroyo, 26, said he was almost "too friendly," with a constant smile. He didn't look for trouble, she said.

The youngest of four kids and a graduate of Kelvyn Park High School, Delgado held down a job at Burger King while working full-time as a line worker at a bakery, his brother said at their Hermosa family home.

"He was good boy," said Juan Delgado, 22, who described his brother as a hard worker who enjoyed his jobs. "He worked for his living."

But the teen didn't want to work those jobs for much longer, his family said. He was saving money for college, said Arroyo, who described Miguel Delgado as someone who always was helping her and other relatives out. 

"He wanted to be a nurse," Juan Delgado said. "He wanted to help people."

Juan Delgado said he thought his brother got the idea to become a nurse so he could help his mother and other family members when they got sick.

Miguel Delgado was the second person shot to death in Wicker Park in a week.

The teen's shooting was captured on video, prosecutors said Sunday at a bond hearing for the accused shooter, Manuel Gonzalez, 29.

One of those videos surfaced on Facebook, according to Juan Delgado, who said he didn't see the footage. He was told the video was posted to the website but quickly taken down.

Prosecutors said the fight that led to the shooting was about "rival gang affiliation," though Miguel Delgado's family denied that the 19-year-old was involved with gangs.

Juan Delgado said his brother and his friends were out "trying to have fun" that night in the neighborhood.

"I don't know why he shot him," Juan Delgado said. "Why? What's the point?"