Quantcast

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

10-Year-Old Gustavo Garcia Shot Dead While Riding In SUV With Stepfather

By Tanveer Ali | July 15, 2017 9:21am | Updated on July 21, 2017 11:31am

CHICAGO — A 10-year-old boy was fatally shot while riding in an SUV on the East Side late Friday, officials said.

The boy was identified as Gustavo Garcia, of the 8800 block of South Escanaba Avenue, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Gustavo was a fourth-grader at Arnold Mireles Academy, 9000 S. Exchange Ave., according to Fox32.

A 31-year-old man also was critically injured in the shooting at 11:13 p.m. in the 3500 block of East 97th Street.

The Tribune reported the boy was riding with his stepfather and the 31-year-old wounded man on their way to pick up a friend on 96th Street when the shooting occurred.

The SUV was traveling westbound when shots were fired from a gray car that pulled up next to them.

Gustavo was taken to Comer Children's Hospital with a gunshot to his back. He was pronounced dead at 12:08 a.m. Saturday.

The man was shot in his back, face and chest before he was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center.

No one is in custody.

Activist Andrew Holmes, who is serving as the family's spokesman, said the child's mother is devastated.

Holmes told Fox32 she "can barely breathe, barely see because her eyes are so swollen from crying. This is her only child."

A man who lived near the shooting said the stepfather could be heard yelling to police for help.

"He started screaming some more, and he came down and said, 'They killed my son.' They shot a [10-year-old] boy, that's awful, especially in this neighborhood," Raul Mendez told ABC7.

Officials originally said the child was 9 years old but later said Garcia had been 10.