Chicago shooting: 3 killed after fight at Belmont Cragin bar ID'd, 4th person critically injured
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The three people killed in an early morning shooting on the city's Northwest Side Sunday have been identified.
A fourth person was also critically hurt, Chicago police said.
The shooting happened at West Melrose Street and North Central Avenue in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood at about 2:26 a.m., police said. An altercation at a local bar spilled out onto the street and someone fired shots. The alleged shooter fled the scene in a dark SUV.
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Ricky Vera and Mario Pozuelos, 50 and 26, were shot in the head and body and pronounced dead at the scene, police and the Cook County medical examiner's office said. Mercedes Tavares, 24, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead, police and the medical examiner's office said.
A 25-year-old woman, shot in the head, was transported to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, police said. A family friend said the surviving victim is Vera's daughter, who has since gone through a 12-hour operation.
"Rick will give you the shirt off his back," said Oscar Ortiz, a Vera family friend. "Excellent husband, excellent grandfather, excellent father, excellent brother."
New surveillance video shows people sprinting down North Central Avenue after the shots were fired.
Neighbors said they heard over a dozen shots fired.
Neighbors we spoke with say they heard over a dozen shots fired.
"I heard screaming, screaming - lots of people," said neighbor Jesus Hernandez.
"I don't feel safe. And why should I feel that way," added fellow neighbor Rosario Villalobos.
Candles now mark the scene of the tragedy, as crime scene tape still hugs a tree, leaving Oscar Ortiz reflecting on the life of a good friend taken from his family and friends.
"How do you move forward? You do it somberly - minute by minute," Ortiz said. "He was just a happy, a happy soul."
Detectives were reviewing surveillance video, Police Commander Joseph Brennan said. He did not say which of the two bars in the area the fight occurred. Several shell casings were recovered from the scene, he said.
There is no one in custody and Area Five detectives are investigating. Police did not immediately provide further information about the shooting.
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The Sun-Times Media report contributed to this post.
