Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - Monday, February 18, 2013
Author/Byline: LAUREN FITZPATRICK ; Staff Reporter
Oscar Marquez , 17, a junior at Marine Math and Science Academy and the eldest of four children, died Saturday night after a gunman opened fire on the car carrying Marquez home from a shopping trip.
Marquez was returning from buying shoes at a local mall with his cousin when he was shot, his mother, ConcepcionMarquez said Sunday in her Tri-Taylor neighborhood home in the 700 block of South Oakley.
His 18-year-old cousin, who was driving the car, was wounded in the arm, she said, and he was expected to be OK.
The cousins were near Western and Cermak about 6:15 p.m. Saturday when a gunman drove up, got out of his vehicle and fired on them, police said. They drove to Rush University Medical Center, but by the time they arrived, Marquez had died, authorities said.
Concepcion Marquez , holding her 18-month-old son in her apartment Sunday afternoon, said she didn’t know who shot her son and police hadn’t told her much. Relatives and friends filled the living room; more continued to drop by.
Oscar liked the Marine Academy and thought about enrolling in the Marine Corps after graduation, she said. Many of his cousins went to school with him, she said, adding that her son was not in a gang.
Fabian Lopez, a fellow junior at the school, said his friend was good at basketball and adored soccer — and despite the Marine Academy’s strict uniform code, wild soccer haircuts, too.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that he’s gone,” Lopez said.
Contributing: James Scalzitti