Man killed in Heart of Chicago shooting that grazed infant son remembered as 'family man to the fullest'
A man who was killed in a shooting that also wounded his 6-month-old son in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood was remembered as a "family man to the fullest" in a fundraiser created to help his family.
“There was nothing you couldn’t count on him for,” Daisy Alvarez, Martinez’s sister-in-law said on the page of a GoFundMe fundraiser created for his family. “His biggest fear was to leave them behind, and sadly, his fear has become reality.”
The attack unfolded as Leonardo Martinez and his six-month old son were traveling north in the 2400 block of South Oakley Avenue when a blue Dodge Charger approached their vehicle and someone inside opened fire and struck them both, Chicago police said.
Martinez, 35, was shot multiple times died minutes later at a hospital.
Responding officers found the 6-month-old in his carseat in the back of the vehicle suffering from a graze wound to his neck, according to a police report obtained by the Sun-Times.
As the baby was was being treated in the ambulance "a fired bullet fell from his onesie," the report said. The baby was taken to Storger Hospital where he was in good condition, officials said. A cell phone covered with blood stains was found in the front seat.
Alvarez always played pranks on Martinez and he never got mad. "He always treated everyone with respect," Alvarez wrote. Martinez was someone with a "great personality and contagious smile."
Martinez is survived by his fiancé, two sons, daughter, and two stepchildren, according to the fundraiser page.
"[Martinez] was a one-in-a-million man!" Alvarez wrote. "His memories will live on with everyone that knew him."
The fundraiser created for Martinez has raised over $3,600 of it's $5,000 goal as of Monday morning.
The blue Charger was found shortly after the shooting and no arrests have been made, police said Monday.