Butcher Killed By Stray Bullet At South Side Meat Market
Updated 08/11/11 - 4:48 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 41-year-old butcher at a South Chicago neighborhood meat market was killed Thursday morning by a bullet that went through the shop's front window.
As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, Alfredo Cuellar Chavez – a father of four – was carrying out his daily routine at about 10:30 a.m. at Margarita's Meat Market at 2709 E. 79th St., walking to put some ice on the chicken when a bullet came through the front window and struck him in the chest.
Police said he was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died.
The victim's uncle, Fernando Chavez, owns the store. He said Cuellar Chavez had been working at the store for six years and was working to support his family in Mexico.
"Never had no troubles. ... Working to support his family," Fernando Chavez said.
Police said that two teenagers ran into a pizzeria next door before the shooting and that they were being chased by someone in an SUV. The teens started throwing gang signs at the people in the SUV and were kicked out of the pizzeria.
The teens then ran into the meat market and that's when the shot was fired, the bullet piercing the meat market's window and striking Cuellar Chavez in the chest.
A store surveillance camera captured the teens walking from the pizzeria to the meat market and flashing gang signs at the people in the SUV. The camera also captured video of someone in the back seat of the SUV pointing a gun out the window, although the shot that was fired was not caught on video.
"They ran into the store. They hid behind the thing and Alfredo fell and they seen Alfredo fall and they ran out," Cuellar Chavez's co-worker, Gilbert Figueroa said.
Figueroa also said that Cuellar Chavez lived for his family, sending every penny he made to his wife and four children in Mexico.
"He didn't drive. He didn't have a car, nothing. That's all he did was make money to send back home," Figueroa said. "They stole his life from him."
Figueroa said police caught one of the teens and took him away.
