Tow truck driver fatally shot in Garfield Park was awaiting birth of first child, family says

Jack Jacobsen was on the phone with a close friend, as he typically would be, during his overnight shift driving a tow truck early Friday.

Around 1:30 a.m., as Jacobsen was in the 3000 block of West 5th Avenue in the Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, his friend heard gunshots ring out from over the phone, according to Chicago police and Jacobsen’s mother, Ericha Hosick.

Officers responding to the scene found Jacobsen, 28, sitting inside his truck, shot multiple times in his torso, police said.

He died at the scene.

A handgun was recovered next to Jacobsen, but it wasn’t clear whose it was. No arrests have been reported in the shooting, which is being investigated as a homicide, according to police.

Jacobsen was expecting the birth of his first child in February with his fiancée.

“Jack was an all-around fun-loving guy,” his mother said. “He made friends everywhere he went. He always helped to lighten the mood. He was very much looking forward to becoming a father.”

Growing up in Elgin and Hampshire, he developed a passion for cars and motorcycles.

Jacobsen spent about a year and a half in the U.S. Navy after graduating high school.

He was the oldest of three siblings and had many more friends who “instantly became family,” his mother said.

“A lot of people’s lives were affected today when my son’s life was lost,” Hosick said. “He’s never going to know his daughter. My granddaughter will never know her father.”

A GoFundMe created to help pay for funeral and other expenses had raised over $55,000 by Saturday afternoon.

“Jack was the first one there when you called and the last one to leave,” the online campaign read. “His humor was unmatched and always delivered in the right moment. Even through tears we can smile and laugh at all the times Jack did something. He was always looking at the bright side, a beacon of hope even when hope seemed too far away.”