Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has ordered all Illinois flags to fly at half-staff in honor and remembrance of Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca, who was shot and killed in the line of duty last week.
According to an announcement, flags were ordered to be lowered beginning Wednesday. They will remain at half-staff until Monday, when Huesca will be laid to rest at a funeral.
Luis Huesca, 30, was found gunned down in the early morning hours of April 21, in the 3100 block of West 56th Street in Chicago's Gage Park neighborhood. According to officials, he had been returning home from a shift when he was shot and killed.
Officers found Huesca near his home, reporting that he had been shot several times, police said. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to a police report, Huesca suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the face, and was in uniform when he was killed. His grey Toyota SUV was taken, but was later recovered, the report said. The police report also stated that officers were investigating whether Huesca’s SUV was taken as part of a carjacking.
“The officer was wearing his uniform, (but) he had something covering it up,” Supt. Larry Snelling said during a recent press conference. “We’re still at preliminary stages right now.”
“What we do know is that the officer’s vehicle was taken, but to get to the total motive of what happened we need more information and the detective division is working on that," Snelling said.
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According to officials, the ATF and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office are helping to investigate.
CPD Officer Luis Huesca killed: What we know
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Monday, Chicago police released a series of clips taken in multiple locations showing a person they are hoping to identify, who they said was "wanted" in connection with the killing of Officer Huesca. According to CPD, the person is considered, "armed and dangerous."
The first footage was captured at 10 p.m. Saturday at a Marathon gas station near 63rd and Sacramento wearing a black jacket and grey sweatshirt. Then, around 11 p.m., the man was seen at a Citgo near 59th and California, this time wearing what appears to be different attire and shoes.
Finally, around 2:40 a.m. Sunday, just 10 minutes before the first ShotSpotter alert signaled, the man was seen in a gray coat walking in the 5500 block of South Kedzie Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood.
The owner of a nearby building provided officers with surveillance video that showed a person “wearing a construction vest walking westbound on 56th Street towards where the crime occurred when multiple shots are then heard,” the report states.
Late Monday evening, Chicago Police released surveillance photos and videos from nearby convenience stores showing a Black male wearing a black - and later - a grey coat with neon yellow striping.
In one video, the person can be seen walking northbound on Kedzie around 2:40 a.m. Sunday – that’s 13 minutes before a ShotSpotter alert notified authorities of a shooting near the area of 56th and Kedzie in Gage Park.
In another video, the same person can be walking on 55th Street around 3:40 a.m. Sunday – that's one block north of the shooting location on 56th Street – and less than an hour after Officer Huesca was killed.
Even though Officer Huesca's death was off-duty and on his way home at the time of his death, his death will be classified as having occurred in the line of duty, according to Chicago Police.
Huesca is the eighth police officer to be fatally shot in Illinois since 2020 and the fourth Chicago Police officer killed by gunfire since 2021.
Who was Officer Luis Huesca?
Huesca worked out of the department’s fifth District. It's the same district where CPD officer Aréanah Preston, shot and killed last year, worked.
Huesca, a six-year veteran of the force, was just two days shy of his 31st birthday when he was shot, police said.
The shooting comes 13 months after the death of Chicago Police Officer Andrés Vásquez-Lasso, who was killed March 1, 2023 while responding to a domestic disturbance call in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue.
Huesca was friends with Vásquez-Lasso, and in a video released by CPD paid tribute to his fallen colleague and friend.
“Andrés was the epitome of the American dream, because he came to this country looking for a way to move upward, make a societal difference,” he said. “Stepped away from mediocrity. Did what others would not do in their lifetime, and actually succeeded in this country. He’s one of those guys that actually deserved this star.”
Huesca said that the tributes paid to Vásquez-Lasso were entirely fitting given his sacrifice and his journey to the Chicago Police Department.
“Had he seen the hundreds of officers that were outside the commemoration, the people that paused during their daily activities, stepped out of their houses, stepped out of their vehicles, and silently held their hands over their hearts…. I think Andrés would have been very proud,” he said.
