When Chicago police officers discovered fellow off-duty Officer Luis Huesca shot early Sunday morning, the officer’s glasses and cell phone were found next to him – but his grey Toyota SUV wasn’t. NBC Chicago’s Bennett Haeberle reports.
When Chicago police officers discovered fellow off-duty Officer Luis Huesca shot early Sunday morning, the officer’s glasses and cell phone were found next to him – but his grey Toyota SUV wasn’t.
Officers who responded to the shooting scene in the 3100 block of West 56th Street early Sunday morning can be heard on radio traffic discussing that a vehicle is missing. The police report states officers found broken glass and were investigating whether Huesca’s SUV was taken as part of a carjacking.
The SUV was later recovered, but the police report obtained by NBC 5 Investigates doesn’t say where.
Huesca suffered a gunshot wound to the face, according to the police report, and was taken to the University of Chicago hospital where he was pronounced shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday.
Neighbors told officers that Officer Huesca routinely parked his SUV in the driveway near his home and that they heard “multiple gunshots” early Sunday morning.
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.
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In the community alert, Chicago Police also shared two images of a person seen in different clothing. The bulletin says police want to identify the person in connection with the murder of a police officer and that they "should be considered armed and dangerous."
NBC 5 Investigates has asked for additional reports and information on the case but Chicago Police withheld them citing the ongoing investigation.
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.
