Friends Say Hit-And-Run Victim Was Targeted
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 21-year-old man was killed early Saturday morning by a hit-and-run driver, but friends who were with him at the time said Sunday that it was no accident, it was murder.
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports that Hamblet Anzo was leaving a fast food stand on the 5200 block of South Western Avenue around 1:30 a.m. Saturday when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver.
A friend who was with Anzo and who asked not to be identified said that the driver intentionally ran down Anzo minutes after Anzo bought a New Year's meal at a Maxwell Street Polish sausage stand.
"I somehow turned and I seen the car coming real fast and I told him to move out of the way and he just turned and he just barely got to turn around. The car hit him and killed him," Anzo's friend said.
The car was going "at least 60, 70 miles per hour," he added.
Anzo's friend said they had just left the fast food stand when people in a dark green Chevrolet Impala with tinted windows started shouting at Anzo.
After a brief exchange, the car sped away, but less than a minute later, the driver made a U-turn on Western and came barreling down at them.
"I was running towards him and I seen, knowing the car actually hit him and I heard the engine roar like he stepped on the accelerator to actually make sure he hit him," Anzo's friend said. "I was in tears. I was in so many tears. He's been my friend since forever."
A Chicago Police Department blue light surveillance camera is positioned a couple blocks away from where Anzo was hit. His family said it might have recorded images of the car and its license plates.
Those who live in the neighborhood said that stretch of Western Avenue is a dividing line between two gangs. Anzo's family said they believe the driver might have thought Anzo was in a gang. They said he used to be, but wasn't anymore and was trying to get into a job program to make something of his life.
Anzo, of the 6300 block of South Kostner Avenue, was pronounced dead at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County at 4:14 a.m. Saturday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. An autopsy performed Saturday revealed that he died of multiple injuries after a vehicle struck a pedestrian and his death was ruled an accident.
The police Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating.
