Cops: Man shot to death with assault rifle in Back of the Yards

Police believe a high-powered assault rifle was used Sunday afternoon to gun down a 21-year-old man outside a Catholic Church that was holding Mass at the time.

The man “was walking eastbound on West 46th street when a vehicle — described as a light-colored Saturn four door, possibly green or beige or light colored — drove up and an individual started firing shots at him from inside the car,” Chicago Police Department chief of detectives Gene Roy said at a news conference at the scene of the shooting in the 4600 block of South Hermitage.

The shooting happened about 1:30 p.m outside Holy Cross Church. The victim tried to run but was hit multiple times with gunfire, Roy said.

He was later identified as Salvador Suarez, of the 4500 block of South Hermitage, who was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:05 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

“At this point there’s nothing to indicate that the church or parishioners were targeted,” Roy said.

“This does appear to be gang-motivated,” he added.

“There’s literally dozens of empty shell casings on the street that you can see marked by orange cones, and this is indicative of the level of violence that we see on a day-to-day basis,” Roy said.

“I have talked with our partners of the Chicago Archdiocese and Chicago Public School system to make sure that they are aware of the incident,” Roy said.

Asked whether the fatal shooting was related to several other shootings that occurred recently in the area, Roy responded: “It is certainly the investigative theory our detectives are going to be working on.”

“It happened about 10 minutes before church was about to let out,” Ald. Ray Lopez said.

Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) said the shooting took place about 20 feet from the front door of the church.

“It happened about 10 minutes before church was about to let out,” he said. “No one should have to spend Father’s Day, or any day, thinking about

the loss of their child.”

“There are gang members for sure who have these kinds of weapons that

are using them in our community,” he said.

“This is just getting to be so out of control,” Lopez said.

A neighbor who asked not to be named said that several gangs have been at each other’s throats in the last few weeks.

“Sometimes they just drive their cars into each other like a demolition derby,” he said.