Anthony Diaz / Submitted photo
BY ASHLEE REZIN
Sun-Times Media
A 13-year-old boy who was shot to death Sunday night in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood had sneaked out of his home with his sisters to confront someone over posts on Facebook, according to a family member.
Anthony Diaz and two of his sisters, ages 15 and 17, left their Northwest Side home about 10:35 p.m. Sunday to confront someone over Facebook posts, said Anthony’s stepfather, Ralph Otero, 47. He said the teens got jumped and somebody pulled out a gun.
Police said the boy was walking with a group in the 6000 block of West Grand Avenue when someone walked up and opened fire, striking him in the left side of his body. The bullet exited through his chest.
Otero and his wife were sleeping when they got a call from Anthony’s sister saying he had been shot.
“My 17-year-old called and said somebody had gotten shot. She said, ‘it’s Anthony, it’s Anthony. Anthony got shot,’” Otero said.
The shooting happened near the family’s home in the 2100 block of North McVicker Avenue.
“I saw him lying on the ground about a block away from our house,” Otero said.
The teen was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 11:26 p.m., authorities.
Otero, an evangelical preacher, said they moved to the neighborhood in November from the Hermosa neighborhood. Anthony was one of six siblings.
“We just moved there from a bad area because it’s supposed to be better, and this is what we got,” Otero said.
“He’s a good student, he’s not a gangbanger. He didn’t give us any headaches,” Otero said.
He said Anthony, who went to Burbank Elementary School, loved basketball and watched the Bulls game Sunday evening.
“This is unbelievable,” Otero said.
— Contributing: Jordan Owen and George Slefo, Network Video Productions