‘He had a lot ahead for him’
Hundreds gather to mourn Officer Andrés Mauricio Vásquez Lasso, who was shot and killed in foot pursuit last week in Gage Park
Before the doors of Blake-Lamb Funeral Home were even open, dozens of people — many in uniform, some not — were already in line to get inside to pay their respects to Officer Andrés Mauricio Vásquez Lasso, a police officer who was shot and killed last week.
People waiting to enter huddled inside a tent adjacent to the Oak Lawn funeral home. Dozens of officers, including two on horseback, stood in front. And a fire engine parked across from the funeral home extended its ladder over 103rd Street with an American flag hanging at the end.
They all were there for the same reason — to celebrate the life of an officer who was shot to death at 32.
“He had a lot ahead for him,” said Ald. Silvana Tabares, whose 23rd Ward includes the section of Marquette Park where Vásquez Lasso lived with his wife and daughter.
“It’s a sad day for the city of Chicago. Their pain is our pain,” Tabares said, referring to the officer’s family.
Tabares was among several officials who attended the wake. Others included Gov. J.B. Pritzker; Mayor Lori Lightfoot with her wife, Amy Eshleman; Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza (whose brother was a police officer); Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi; and several other alderpersons.
David Dewar wore buttons for several of the officers lost in the line of duty over the last few years, including Officer Ella French, who was shot to death in 2021, and Officers Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo, who were chasing a man with a gun when they were struck by a train and killed in 2018.
“This is showing we don’t ever forget the people that serve and protect,” said Dewar, 58.
Dewar, who lives in the 19th Ward, said several of his neighbors were police officers and knew “the good, the bad and the ugly” of the department, but he said it was important to celebrate those who upheld the ideals of public service.
“Andres is the perfect example” of what people hope for in an officer, said John Catanzara Jr. president of Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7, “a young officer, an immigrant and somebody who wanted to be somebody in the department.”
“He was loved in the 8th District,” Catanzara said, referring to the area where Vásquez Lasso was assigned.
Vásquez Lasso had been on the force for nearly five years. He responded to a domestic violence call March 1 in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue, about 2oe miles from the home he and his wife had moved into about a year ago.
That call led to the deadly confrontation. Steven Montano, 18, fled on foot from a house toward the playground adjacent to Sawyer Elementary School when authorities allege he suddenly turned around and pointed a gun at Vásquez Lasso.
The two exchanged gunfire, with Montano hitting the officer in the head, arm and leg, authorities said. The officer fired twice and hit Montano in the face. Vásquez Lasso was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died.
Montano was ordered held without bail. His next court date was set for March 22, for a status hearing.
One group of mourners said they could imagine what Vásquez Lasso’s wife, Milena, was going through, as they went through the same emotions when they lost family members who were police officers.
“When you show up to this the feelings come right back,” said Crystal Jimenez, whose husband, Samuel Jimenez, died in 2018 when he rushed into Mercy Hospital to confront a gunman and interrupt a mass shooting.
Cullen Gordon, the son of Officer Michael Gordon, who was killed in 2004, came from Texas to pay his respects.
Gordon, an officer with the Dallas Police Department, spoke through tears about the support his family received when his dad died, how vital it was and how important that kind of support is for the families of officers who are killed on the job.
“They gave their lives for the people of Chicago,” he said. “Never forget them.”
After dark, the line of visitors swelled to a couple hundred.
Vásquez Lasso’s funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Rita of Cascia church, 7740 S. Western Ave.
Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.