Chicago shooting: Father of 2 gunned down in Belmont Cragin while letting dog out

CHICAGO (WLS) -- An $8,000 reward is being offered for anyone who comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever killed Ramiro Mendez.

The husband and father of two leaves two young girls behind after he was shot and killed this past weekend on Chicago's Northwest Side.

When Mendez celebrated his 32nd birthday last October, his family never believed it would be his last. The father of two was gunned down early Saturday morning standing directly outside of his Belmont Cragin home while waiting on his wife.

"It was a family gathering that my brother had attended. They came home, he basically was outside of his home waiting for his dog to come out, to take out the dog. That is something that any of us could be doing at 3 a.m. Don't deserve to die like this," said his cousin, Yarine Velez.

Mendez's devastated wife, parents and other relatives joined in with community activists to call on the public to help find the killer or killers. Investigators said they believe Mendez was shot by an occupant inside a black sedan on the 5300-block of W. Altgeld.

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"Criminals out there don't care where you live," community activist Esteban Burgoa said. "Where you are, they're going to gun you down. And we need to find solutions."

An immigrant from the Mexican state of Guerrero, Mendez had been in Chicago for many years. This is where he met his wife, and where they were raising their two young girls.

"Ramiro was a funny dad. He was a loving dad. He was a present dad. He would take his daughters to school. He would pick up his daughters from school. Now my nieces don't have that," Velez said. "He was just a regular person trying to live and trying to make it in the city of Chicago."

At this point, Chicago police are saying only that no arrests have been made and this remains an open and active investigation.