By ASHLEE REZIN and JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
Aristeo ‘Pascuale’ Soriano | GoFundMe
Aristeo “Pascuale” Soriano had walked home from his job as a baker at a popular West Town bakery almost every day for the last 25 years.
On Wednesday morning, after a shift that ended at 2 a.m., the father of four never made it home.
About 2:24 a.m., the 49-year-old Soriano was walking in the 1300 block of West Huron, according to Chicago Police. He was going home from D’Amato’s Bakery, where he had worked for more than 20 years.
As he was walking, a male suspect walked up, pulled out a weapon and shot him, according to police.
Soriano was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later, authorities said.
Aristeo Soriano was a baker for 25 years at D’Amato’s a longtime fixture in West Town. | GoFundMe
Initial reports said he was shot in the chest, but an autopsy Thursday showed he he died of a gunshot wound to the back, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which identified him as Aristeo Soriano Pastrana.
West Town resident J Alex Sanger has started a GoFundMe page to help the family with expenses for a memorial service in Chicago, and funeral and burial in Mexico, where his parents still live.
D’Amato’s Bakery has been a fixture in West Town for decades, and Aristeo Soriano had been a baker there for 25 years before he was killed walking home from Work Wednesday. | GoFundMe
“I have lived in West Town for more than 16 years and have come to appreciate my community, including the neighborhood institution, D’Amato’s Bakery, she wrote on the page. “On 9 August, we lost a neighbor and D’Amato’s baker for more than 20 years: Aristeo “Pascuale” Soriano, age 49.”
Soriano, who was just weeks away from his 50th birthday, leaves behind a wife and four children, according to Sanger, a licensed clinical social worker.
A neighbor wrote of Soriano on Facebook: “This man is my former student’s father—hard working, extremely religious and main provider for his family. Very present in his children’s lives, worked at D’Amatos forever, attended all his daughters school meetings and wanted her to get a good education. I work with low income families and this family worked hard to make sure she had what she needed for school.”
The GoFundMe page has raised more than $3,500 in its first day, and the goal was increased from $2,000 to $10,000.
Sanger called the Sorianos a “family of three generations in one apartment.”
She wrote that Soriano’s wife “gave me a hug that I extend and share with all of you,” and his two sons “expressed their gratitude” and said they would “take a thank-you video when every family member is in a place to participate.”