FATHER OF 5 GUNNED DOWN WHILE WATERING HIS LAWN
A 46- year- old man was shot to death Thursday morning in front of his home in the Southwest Side Gage Park neighborhood.
About 11: 30 a. m., Abel Melesio was watering his lawn in the 5600 block of South Richmond when a black Cadillac SUV drove by and someone inside fired shots, according to authorities and community activist Andrew Holmes.
His family heard the gunfire and ran outside to find Melesio shot twice and lying in the grass, Holmes said. His daughter rode with him in the ambulance to Holy Cross Hospital.
Melesio was pronounced dead at 11: 45 a. m., the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
“They’re in shock, total shock,” Holmes said of Melesio’s family.
Melesio was the father of five children, Holmes said. The family can’t believe anyone would want to shoot him, and are asking any neighbors who have surveillance systems to provide video to police in hopes of catching the shooter.
The killing of Melesio broke a streak of nearly 72 hours in the city without a fatal shooting. Before that, the last gun- related homicide occurred about noon on Monday in East Garfield Park.
Holmes asked anyone with information to call the Chicago Survivors tip line at 1- 800- 883- 5587 or Area Central detectives at 312- 7478380. Matthew Hendrickson and Jordan Owen
Man found guilty of traveling to Aurora for sex with minors
A Pennsylvania man has been convicted of traveling to west suburban Aurora to pay to have sex with teenage girls. Shane R. Lewis, 38, was convicted by a jury Wednesday of involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, traveling to meet a minor, and grooming, all felonies, ac- cording to the Kane County state’s attorney’s office.
On Jan. 8, 2015, Lewis was in the Chicago area on business when he went to an Aurora hotel with the intent to pay for sex with what he believed would be 14- year- old and 15- year- old girls, prosecutors said.
Lewis was met by a person he thought was the girls’ mother, confirmed that he wanted sexual favors, paid the person $ 200, and was arrested, prosecutors said.
Jordan Owen
Toddler falls from window
A toddler was hospitalized after falling out of a window Thursday morning in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side.
The child, whose exact age and gender weren’t immediately available, fell out of a third- floor window in the 200 block of South Albany at 10: 32 a. m., according to police.
The child was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, police said.
Jordan Owen
Man dies after vehicle collides with deer
A man died early Wednesday after the vehicle he was in collided with a deer in northwest suburban Hoffman Estates.
Robert J. Issel, 78, was in a vehicle driving near the intersection of Golf and Rohrssen roads when it crashed into the deer, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Tom Schuba