A 65-year-old man tried to warn his 14-year-old grandson to run for shelter, but they were both gunned down in a hail of gunfire coming from a silver Kia Soul on the Southwest Side Tuesday, police and neighbors said.
A day after the slayings, the 3500 block of South 61st Place seemed hushed, and many were not willing to say much about the shooting that left Juan and Mario Medina dead outside the family home.
Police said Juan Medina, 14, went outside to meet his girlfriend and two other friends around 4:30 p.m.
Suddenly, an eastbound Kia Soul pulled up and stopped in front of the residence, causing his grandfather, who stood on the front porch, to begin “trying to get him back into the house,” according to a police report.
Bullets blasted from the car’s driver’s side hit the boy in the back of the head as he sprinted through a gangway and pierced his grandfather’s back and abdomen as the 65-year-old spun around to try and make it to safety.
Police found 19 shell casings on the scene after the Kia Soul sped away west, and then south on Central Park Avenue.
Meanwhile, no one answered at the victims’ home when a Chicago Sun-Times reporter knocked late Wednesday morning.
Colored lights and festive holiday decorations adorned many homes lining the residential street.
One neighbor said the Medinas lived across the street from him, where he’s lived for more than 20 years.
The neighbor, who didn’t give his name, wasn’t home at the time of the shooting but said he was “good friends” with the Medinas and had spoken to them since the shooting.
When asked how Juan Medina’s mother was doing, he shook his head and said: “Not very good.”
One neighbor said she hadn’t heard about the shooting and didn’t know the family, and a couple who approached the family house didn’t answer, shook their heads and left in a car when a reporter asked for their comments.
So far this year, at least 15 people have been killed in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, according to data kept by the Sun-Times.
No one is in custody and detectives are investigating.
