In a chilling incident that has left the Windy City in mourning, a 30-year-old off-duty Chicago police officer was brutally gunned down in an apparent carjacking in the Gage Park neighborhood. Officer Luis M. Huesca, a six-year veteran of the force, was shot multiple times and later pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
The fatal shooting occurred early Sunday morning as Huesca was returning home from his shift, still clad in his police uniform. Responding to a gunshot detection alert, officers discovered Huesca with multiple gunshot wounds in the 3100 block of West 56th Street. His vehicle, a Toyota 4Runner, was stolen by his assailants and later recovered nearby.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, in a press conference following the incident, described Huesca as a "great officer, a great human being." He added, "We lost one of our own today. That officer was a victim of the type of crime that he was working against to keep people safe in this city."
Although the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain largely unknown, Snelling confirmed that Huesca's vehicle had been stolen. He did not confirm whether the shooting occurred during a carjacking. No arrests have been reported so far.
Huesca, who was just two days shy of his 31st birthday, is survived by his mother and an uncle. In a poignant tribute, community members gathered at the scene of the shooting on Sunday night to pray and sing songs in Spanish, placing lighted candles near Huesca's home.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson described the shooting as "an act of unconscionable gun violence in our city." He vowed to commit "every resource available toward apprehending anyone involved in this morning's shooting and bringing them to justice."
John Catanzara, President of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, in a video-recorded statement, suggested that Huesca was targeted for his vehicle and killed because he was a cop. He warned, "If they will do that to a Chicago police officer, what does anybody think the average citizen stands a chance in any of these situations? Because you do not."
Huesca's tragic death comes a little over a year after his friend and fellow officer, Andrés Mauricio Vásquez Lasso, was killed in the line of duty. In a tribute video to Lasso, Huesca had described his friend as "the epitome of the American dream."
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