A 15-year-old boy earning money to buy his sister a present and take his girlfriend on a date was fatally shot while helping his mother’s boyfriend deliver newspapers.
Brian Jasso was offered money by the boyfriend so he could sleep, but the teen wanted to work for it, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Jasso and the 28-year-old boyfriend, who has not been identified, were delivering newspapers when a white van apparently accelerated into them while they were at a stop sign around 7 a.m. Sunday morning, witnesses told police.
The van flashed its brights and the boyfriend, sensing something was wrong, started to drive away when a passenger in the van began shooting. After a brief chase the boyfriend pulled into a parking lot where he realized Jasso had been shot.
"I just heard shot after shot. I pulled (Jasso) down when they broke the rear windows," the boyfriend told the Chicago Tribune. "I tried to protect him in that moment but I couldn't. I don't know why he got up. We had made it, but he got up and that's when they killed him."
The boyfriend and teen did not have any gang ties, according to the Chicago Tribune. Police believe the shooting could be a case of mistaken identity. Investigators are also not sure if the shooting is retaliation for a rifle attack earlier that morning.
The shooting brings the number of shooting homicides in the city to 589, with 22 fatal shootings of people 15 years old or younger, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“I hope Chicago is tired of so much violence,” the boyfriend said. “I’m fed up. Everywhere we see the dead. This looks like a graveyard, not a city. Everywhere you see crosses, balloons on any corner.”
The family set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral arrangements.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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