Mike Lopez was sitting outside his Little Village home when he heard at least 15 shots at his neighbor’s home just after midnight Monday.
He saw a 17-year-old boy run down the street, limping and hiding behind parked cars.
The boy’s father had just shot and killed the teenager’s 15-year-old sister and his mother and was now chasing the boy after wounding him in the ankle, according to police.
“Where are you? Where are you?” the father screamed, according to Lopez.
The man went back inside the house, and more shots were fired. Lopez said he called the boy over to wait on his front steps until the police arrived.
The teen had wrapped a T-shirt around his wound to stop the bleeding, Lopez said: “A pretty smart kid.”
When officers arrived, they found Daniela Alvarez, the boy’s sister, inside the home with a gunshot wound to the face. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Her mother, Karina Gonzalez, 48, suffered several gunshot wounds and was dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The son was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in fair condition.
Police said the children’s father, 67, was taken into custody and a gun was found at the scene.
“This young man … had seen his life flash before his eyes and he’d lost his mom and his sister,” Lopez said. “At least they got the guy in custody.”
Police said the shooting appeared to have been sparked by an argument over the television being too loud, according to police and to Lopez, who said he heard the teen recounting the story to officers.
The father “started pointing [a gun] at the mom and the daughter, and he started letting go, shot the daughter in the face and the mom a couple of times,” Lopez said. “He was shooting at the son ... and that’s when he got him underneath the ankle. He ran out of bullets, and that’s when [the son] jetted out the door.”
Lopez’s family lives on the block and operates Los Candiles Restaurant across the alley. It’s usually a quiet street, Lopez said. “You never know.”
Charges were pending against the father Monday afternoon.
Contributing: Rosemary Sobol
