Man Dragged From Stolen Car, Killed After Trying To Stop Thieves
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A manhunt was underway in west suburban Oak Park, after a man was killed when he tried to stop a carjacking, and was thrown from the side of the moving car.
"He wasn't supposed to go like this," said Veronica Licea, who lost the love of her life, 24-year-old Chris Florez.
Licea said her boyfriend, 24-year-old Chris Florez, was with her outside the Jewel on the 7000 block of Roosevelt Road around 7 p.m., renting a movie from a RedBox kiosk, when Florez saw two men get into his 2016 Dodge Challenger, which they had left running and unattended.
"He turned around. He seen a guy just inside his car. He screamed 'Hey! Hey!' and then he ran towards the car, and I guess he was trying to stop the guy from closing the door, but he didn't. So he grabbed onto the steering wheel, and the guy just drove off," she said.
Florez, a former U.S. Marine, held on for a couple blocks as the thieves sped off, but was thrown from the car when it turned north on Harlem Avenue.
Florez was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead about three hours later, police said.
"He's a good guy. He's a great guy that he didn't deserve this," Licea said.
Police later spotted the stolen car, and began following it. The carjackers bailed out of the car in Chicago, in an alley off the 5500 block of West Monroe.
One person was taken into custody, but police said they were still searching for the thief who was behind the wheel of the stolen car.
Licea said she hopes the thieves "get what they deserve."
"If they keep doing this, and they don't care who dies or who doesn't, then they're not human," she said.