Rear-ended, pushed two blocks by pickup
truck
By Tim Hadac
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
Police
have opened a homicide investigation into the traffic-related death of a Gage
Park man early Sunday morning, but they are not yet saying if they think the
killer knew the victim—or if the crime was a road-rage incident between
strangers.
Eduardo
A. Pena, 21, died at 4:44 a.m. at Stroger Hospital, about 2½ hours after his
1998 Ford Ranger was rammed behind by a black pickup truck near 55th
and Kedzie and pushed two blocks south—where it hit a tree near 57th
and Kedzie.
The
driver of the pickup truck sped away and is not in custody. On Friday, October 27, CPD released video of the start of the incident. It shows both vehicles at the stoplight at 55th and Kedzie, facing south. The video clip ends with the pickup truck ramming Pena's vehicle.
Pena was extricated from his mangled vehicle
by paramedics.
He
leaves behind a wife and year-old child, according to relatives who have
organized an online GoFundMe campaign to pay for his funeral expenses. As of
Tuesday afternoon, seven people donated a total of $1,340 toward the $7,000
goal.
Pena’s
cousin, Klarissa Lopez, said the homicide “breaks my heart into millions of
pieces,” and she has publicly appealed for witnesses to share information.
“Please,
if anyone knows anything, come forward!” she wrote in a Facebook post. “To drag
a man two whole blocks and then to leave him to die...you're a special kind of
sick and u deserve to rot in prison. I pray every minute they live, their
conscience hunts their minds
The
fatal clash began steps away from the entrance to St. Gall Church, where
parishioners outside Mass last Sunday expressed shock and sadness.
“There
is already so much evil in the world. Do we need more?" asked Josefina
Parada, mentioning the funeral service held for a Gage Park family in the
church in 2015, after they were slain in a home near 57th and
California. “There’s so much to live for. Why are people killing each other?”
Maria
Rodrigues-Campos said the killing illustrates “why I don’t drive at night.
There are too many young drivers—hotheads—out on the road at night. You look at
them the wrong way and who knows? Maybe you’re the one they’re running off the
road.”
Pedro
Ortiz said he is confident that police will be able to find the killer.
“With
so many video cameras around these days, you know some camera somewhere has
footage of that pickup truck making a getaway, he said. “Plus you know police
will be looking for that truck, which has damage no other truck in the city
has. Just a matter of time.”
Those
with useful information to share are encouraged to call CPD Area Central
detectives at (312) 747-8380.
Pena
with his infant son, from a photo posted publicly by his relatives.
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