CLEARING — Neighbors on the quiet block of 6500 S. Kilpatrick Avenue were waiting for answers Tuesday morning after news broke of a stabbing Monday morning that left a teenager dead.
Authorities said Jesse Gonzalez, 18, was fatally stabbed during a fight with at least three people about 1:35 a.m. Monday. One person hit Gonzalez in his head and another stabbed him in his torso, said Officer John Mirabelli, a police spokesman.
Gonzalez, of the 6100 block of S. Rockwell St., was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where he was pronounced dead about 7:40 a.m. Monday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Police did not have details about circumstances surrounding the fight. One neighbor, who declined to give her name, said she called police after she was woken up by the sound of loud voices.
"I heard a bunch of people screaming and yelling," she said. "It was just a bunch of noise."
The neighbor said she saw five or six people standing over a body near the corner of 66th Street and Kilpatrick Avenue but said they left the scene quickly.
"Everybody scattered like cochroaches," she said. "It was one of those where you go, 'What the heck is going on?'"
Gary Izzo, a city firefighter who has lived on the block for 25 years, said he was surprised to hear of violence so close to home.
"I think we have a great block," he said. "We don't have any problems on this block."
Before Monday, the biggest issue his block faced was basements flooding from residents opening the fire hydrants on hot summer days, Izzo said.
"That was our biggest problem," he said.
Some neighbors, like Janice Young, said Tuesday they had not even heard about the stabbing.
"That's just scary," Young, who has lived on the block for 40 years, said. "I can't believe we didn't hear anything."
Young said she has raised six children in the neighborhood, and like Izzo, she said her block usually does not experience violence, or any type of crime for that matter.
"I hope it stays that way," she said.
Police said no one was in custody or being questioned in connection with the murder as of Tuesday morning and said anyone with information can call detectives at 312-747-8380.
Gonzalez's family declined to comment Tuesday.
