CHICAGO — Pedro Jimenez remembers his son, Jonathan, as the "best mechanic partner I had."
But when Jonathan, 25, was gunned down in Brighton Park early January, the family's world turned upside down. Grief-stricken and dissatisfied with answers they heard from police, Pedro and other family members are working to find Jonathan's killer on their own.
"My boy was my best friend," said Pedro, 50, for whom his daughter translated. "We would eat together, talk about [mechanic] projects we had coming up. I don't think I'll ever get over it."
Jonathan, a construction worker and father of two, was in his car in the 4600 block of South Talman Avenue in Brighton Park on Jan. 5 when someone inside a passing car opened fire, fatally striking him in the stomach, police said. He was one of 42 people shot in January, a month that saw shootings and murders nearly double over last year's tally.
READ MORE: January Shootings Double Over 2015: 42 People Killed, 210 Hurt
He left behind two children, including a one-year-old. Jonathan's sister, Jessica Martinez, watches the child when Jonathan's girlfriend is at work.
"We've experienced everything together," Jessica said of her younger brother. "I tried to look out for him. He didn't deserve to die the way he did."
The father-daughter duo said they are now working to find out exactly what happened to Jonathan the night he was killed. Pedro has been sleuthing while Martinez works to accumulate "substantial" reward money for information and seeks witnesses through sites like Everyblock.
No arrests have been made in the case, which police believe to be gang related, according to a Chicago Police source, who said the investigation is ongoing.
Though Pedro and Jessica say police provided some details about the case to them, there haven't been updates in a while. The family said they are not sure detectives have enough resources to dedicate to Jonathan's case.
"The cops have so many piled-up homicides," Jessica said of their reason for taking action. "They don't know my brother, but this is someone we cared about."
Pedro said he has talked to eyewitnesses to the shooting who have yet to speak with officers. He said he needs just a bit more information before he goes to the police with what he's gathered.
Jonathan with his sister, Jessica, on her 30th birthday. [Submitted photo]
Night of the shooting
Jonathan's family found out he had been shot at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5, Pedro said.
Pedro raced to the scene, but Jonathan was already in an ambulance. He then went to Mount Sinai Hospital, but he said he never got to see his son before doctors pronounced him dead.
Later that night, after the hospital, Pedro went back to the crime scene. It was there that he spoke with an eyewitness who led Pedro to believe his son was set up for a robbery that went bad.
The family believes Jonathan was in the car with a woman, who they said fled the scene after the shooting but came back to talk to police. According to the family's eyewitness, the shooters were waiting for Jonathan, apparently with ski masks pulled over their heads.
"This person said they were already waiting for him," Pedro said. "They thought it was planned."
One detail Pedro has learned has caused him tremendous grief.
He said he believes that Jonathan was shot initially but not fatally. Pedro said he has reason to believe the shooters came back a second time with the intent to kill his son, and did just that.
"Those last shots ... he wishes he was there so he could have taken them," Jessica said of her father. "It kills him."
The family believes Pedro could have been set up to be robbed of his construction job money, for which he gets paid in cash, they said.
Turning a corner
Growing up in Pilsen, Jonathan's family said the youngest sibling of three had some very difficult decisions to make: become affiliated with a gang or fear for his life.
Pedro taught his then 15-year-old son how to work on cars, a skill he thought would help give Jonathan's life direction. It almost worked: Jessica said that Jonathan recently wanted to open his own car shop so he could better provide for his young family.
But Jonathan did associate with the wrong groups, his family said. He eventually dropped out of Benito Juarez High School.
"You know how this city is," Jessica said. "It was hard for him to stay out of trouble and survive this city."
Jessica and Pedro said Jonathan had turned a corner in his life, beginning to work more steadily and trying to win custody of his first-born.
But Jonathan's fatal shooting put an end to that redemption, his family said. And now begins their work to figure out how it went wrong.
"He was trying to be a good man," Jessica said.
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