CHICAGO – Fallen Chicago Police Department Officer Luis M. Huesca took an oath to protect and serve his community, and he did just that, until his final breath.
Huesca, a six-year CPD veteran working in the 5th District, would have turned 31 years old on Tuesday. He never got that chance.
On Sunday morning, Huesca was arriving home in the city’s Gage Park neighborhood after finishing a work shift, when he was shot multiple times. He was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
It was a gunshot detection alert that initially brought officers to the area.
While the motive for the murder has not been released, CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling confirmed the officer’s vehicle was missing from the scene. It was later located less than a mile away. Multiple police sources have also confirmed the officer’s service weapon was not on him when he was found.
“Why a good person like Luis? He was a good person,” longtime friend and neighbor, Jerome Hughes said.
Hughes has years of memories with his friend, who he said, moved in across the street from him around middle school. The pair have remained close, even after they moved away from their childhood neighborhood.
“I’m still shocked; at a loss for words,” Hughes said.
Hughes said he grew up playing basketball and video games with Huesca and his brother, and said he was a kind, quiet, and caring person. He had no idea Huesca wanted to become a police officer but said it didn’t shock him in the least.
“He was so in his books growing up, so I thought he was going to go into medicine, he always said he was going to be in school for a long time,” Hughes said. “Seeing it now, it’s like, I can see it. It’s understandable why he went into it, and I can see him changing lives that way.”
On Tuesday, the joy on what would have been his birthday was replaced by sorrow as his body was carried in a procession from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office to the Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, where CPD officers will stand watch in rotation until he is brought to his final resting place.
“He did not deserve what happened at all, whatsoever,” Hughes said.
On Tuesday, Huesca’s killing was officially declared a line-of-duty death, Chicago police said.
“Even though it doesn’t begin to replace their loved one, it means they will have a measure of financial security as they move forward,” said Eugene Roy.
On Monday afternoon Chicago police shared photographs and a video captured by surveillance cameras showing a person of interest in the deadly shooting.
Police said the person should be considered armed and dangerous.
“There is no higher priority of the Chicago Police Department right now than finding, arresting, and ultimately convicting the offenders responsible for this heinous act,” Roy said.
Although police have not said whether this was a carjacking, it is one of the possibilities investigators were looking into as of Sunday morning.
“You’re shocked by the senselessness and the brutality of it,” Roy said. “It became more. It became a statement. He was in uniform. This was an attack on a Chicago police officer – an armed attack on a uniformed Chicago police officer.”
Roy told WGN-TV that what this family and the department need, especially right now, is support from the community as they navigate the next steps and prepare to lay Huesca to rest.
“He loved helping people. He loved what he was doing, honored the badge for sure,” Hughes said. “We need more like Luis, not just here, everywhere.”
Visitation and funeral services for the fallen officer have been scheduled.
Visitation will be open to the public from 1-8 p.m. on Saturday at the Blake and Lamb Funeral Home and a mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday at St. Rita Cascia Catholic Church.
Interment will follow the funeral at Rosehill Cemetery.
Police are asking anyone with information that could lead to an arrest in Huesca’s shooting death to contact Area One detectives or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-535-7867 (STOP) or [email protected].
A cash reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for any information that leads to an arrest.
