Chicago Police Department, Gage Park community mourn loss of fallen officer, search continues for his killer

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department and the Gage Park community are mourning the loss of a fallen officer, as investigators continue the search for his killer.

Luis M. Huesca, a six-year CPD veteran working in the 5th District, was two days shy of his 31st birthday when he was shot multiple times in Gage Park on the city’s Southwest Side early Sunday morning and pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

On Sunday, the community honored Huesca, with the Sunday evening mass at St. Gall Catholic Church in Gage Park dedicated to him. The church was filled with officers, family and loved ones, who followed mass by walking to the crime scene where Huesca lost his life in the 3100 block of West 56th Street on the city’s Southwest Side.

“Six-year member of the department, working very hard out there to keep communities and to keep people safe,” CPD Supt. Larry Snelling said Sunday. “And (Sunday), that officer was a victim of the type of crime that he was working against.”

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Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement Sunday he had met with Huesca’s mother and uncle. The mayor spoke about Huesca’s shooting death Monday following an Earth Day event.

“As I said (Sunday), we are all deeply sorry,” he said. “This is very hard for our city. I spent time (Sunday) with the officer’s mother and his uncle. Our condolences have been extended to the family.”

Multiple law enforcements agencies investigated the scene Sunday. Police have not confirmed that Huesca was the victim of a carjacking, though they did say his vehicle was stolen.

On Sunday, multiple sources confirmed to WGN News a description of the SUV belonging to Huesca. WGN News crews on scene saw an SUV matching that description being towed from an alleyway near West 57th and South Mozart streets in Gage Park.

On Monday afternoon Chicago police shared photographs and a video captured by surveillance cameras showing an individual who is believed to be connected to the deadly shooting.

Officers say the individual should be considered armed and dangerous.

Police are asking anyone with information that could lead to an arrest in Huesca’s shooting death to contact Area One detectives, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-535-7867 (STOP) or Tips@cookcountycrimestoppers.org.

A cash reward up to $10,000 is being offered for any information that leads to an arrest.

Huesca was killed in the same neighborhood as Officer Andrés Vásquez-Lasso, who was shot and killed while investigating a domestic-related call on March 1, 2023, in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue, also in Gage Park.

Huesca appeared in an emotional video remembering Vásquez-Lasso, just over a year before Huesca himself was shot and killed only blocks away.

On Sunday, Gage Park residents said their neighborhood is usually quiet and that crime isn’t a regular occurrence.

“It could’ve been any of us,” Gage Park resident Alex Rodriguez said. “… This neighborhood, nothing happens. It’s so quiet. There’s a church, there’s a grocery store, there’s a high school.”

Huesca is also the second CPD officer from the 5th District to be shot and killed in less than a year.

Officer Aréanah Preston was fatally shot outside her home in the Avalon Park neighborhood on May 6, 2023. Like Huesca, Preston had just finished her shift and was off-duty when she was shot and killed in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue on the city’s South Side.

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“This senseless and reckless violence that continues to cause so much harm in our city, so much grief, has become unbearable,” Mayor Johnson said. “That’s why I’m working hard to continue to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago in a variety of ways.

“To the officers who served alongside one of our fallen, my thoughts and prayers are with the entire Police Department.”

John Catanzara, president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, questioned in a video message after Huesca’s shooting death how Chicago residents could feel safe if even police officers are being targeted after their shifts.

“If they would do that to a Chicago police officer, what does anybody think the average citizen stands a chance in any of these situations?” Catanzara said.

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