Officer Luis M. Huesca of the Chicago Police Department tragically lost his life while still in uniform early Sunday morning as he was returning home from his shift. Officer Huesca, who was off duty, had sustained multiple gunshot wounds when officers arrived in response to a ShotSpotter alert. Authorities later found his vehicle in an alley a few blocks away.
“The vehicle found in the alley here, we believe it was the officer’s,” 15th Ward Ald. Ray Lopez said. “If it was a carjacking, there might be evidence inside… an attempted carjacking… who knows, but all that evidence is being collected right now.”
Officer Huesca served in the Chicago Police Department for six years and was about to celebrate his 31st birthday in a couple of days.
“Another sad day in Chicago. Another sad day for the Chicago Police Department,” said Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling. “We lost one of our own today.”
Officer Huesca sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and despite the theft of his vehicle, the Chicago Police Superintendent has not said it was a carjacking.
“The officer’s vehicle was taken, but to get to the total motive of what happened, we need more information.”
Anthony Riccio, the former first deputy superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, expressed that the department’s operations often come to a standstill. “Operations as we know them, business as usual, is not business as usual. We go into this mourning period. There’s a lot of frustration. There’s a lot of sadness.”
According to Chicago FOP President John Catanzara, Jr., the criminals targeted Huesca’s vehicle and, because he was a cop, killed him. “They had to execute him because he was a Chicago police officer, and they didn’t want to get caught.”
“If they will do that to a Chicago Police officer, does anybody think the average citizen stands a chance in any of these situations – because you do not?”
In the past year, there have been at least seven other cases of off-duty officers being robbed, including the tragic death of Aréanah Preston, a Chicago police officer, who was fatally shot after her shift last May.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Department and the ATF are assisting the CPD in the investigation.