Mateo Zastro’s mother calls on assailants to surrender. ‘I will not sleep until you are brought in.’
Balloons with messages to Mateo Zastro are released at a prayer vigil Monday evening. The 3-year-old was riding in his mother’s SUV on Friday when someone in another car fired shots, killing him.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
The mother of 3-year-old Mateo Zastro, who was fatally shot in what officials are saying is a road-rage incident, made an emotional plea, asking those responsible to turn themselves in.
At a prayer vigil Monday attended by dozens of community members, activists and relatives near 69th and Pulaski, prayers were said for the community and Mateo’s family, candles were lighted and green and gold balloons, each with a special message for Mateo, were released into the air.
“I want you to turn yourselves in so my baby can cross over,” Veronica Zastro said through tears. “It wasn’t necessary to do what you did.”
Mateo Zastro, 3,
Provided
“Turn yourselves in because my pain is starting to turn to anger,” Zastro said.
Mateo was riding in the family SUV with his mother and his siblings just before 8:40 p.m. Friday when a male passenger in the backseat of a red car — possibly a Dodge Charger or a Ford Mustang — fired shots in the 4400 block of West Marquette Road in West Lawn.
The boy was struck in the head and died about eight hours later at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Police said the attack stemmed from a “road-rage incident” involving the mother and another motorist that started on Cicero Avenue, though it wasn’t clear how it began.
On Sunday, community activists gathered in West Lawn to address the growing dangers of drivers with guns. The activists want officials to distribute 100,000 flyers to educate the public about the risk of road rage and shootings.
Veronica Zastro, mother of Mateo Zastro, sobs as she recalls her son, who would have turned 4 in December. “He doesn’t get to see 4, graduate pre-school, kindergarten, nothing.”
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
“I wasn’t following you, and then you decided to plot against me and my babies,” Zastro said of the assailants, adding that Mateo’s siblings “saw their brother drop to the floor” and are now afraid to go to school or go outside.
Mateo “was gonna turn 4 in December, and I already started paying and planning for his birthday,” Zastro said. “He doesn’t get to see 4, graduate pre-school, kindergarten, nothing.
“It hurts me so much not waking up to my baby.”
Family, friends, and community members write messages on balloons. Anti-violence activists have called on officials to distribute 100,000 flyers to educate the public about the dangers of road rage and guns.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Relatives of Mateo Zastro were joined by community members in lighting candles and releasing balloons in his memory.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times