Salvador Duran had often talked to his son about the dangers lurking in his neighborhood, but the independent-minded teen was hard-pressed to listen.
Roberto Duran, 14, had lived his entire life in Little Village — the past four years in the bungalow on Kildare Avenue, where he, the only boy of three children, spent much of his time playing video games and hanging out with friends.
On Monday evening, while he was standing with friends in the 4200 block of 25th Street, a gray van passed Roberto and stopped. It made a U-turn, his father said, and came back to the group. Shots rang out. A bullet struck Roberto once in the abdomen. He died 20 minutes later at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
Police say they have no suspects in the drive-by shooting but believe it may have been gang-related.
Salvador Duran said the people in the van were gang members from another neighborhood and his son was a “good kid” who wasn’t in a gang. But Duran said he didn’t know if Roberto’s friends were gang members.
The murder made Roberto, a freshman at Little Village School of Social Justice, the 32nd Chicago Public Schools student killed in the last school year.
According to his father, Roberto was a friendly boy who made his own decisions and liked swimming and computers. Roberto didn’t always feel accepted at school, his father said. Roberto, whom his father called “Bobby,” wanted to study computer programming when he got older.
Salvador Duran saw his son Monday before the boy went with friends to a graduation of another friend. On Tuesday afternoon, as he and his family started making funeral plans, Duran lamented the recent incidents of violence against teens.
“They are just finding someone who is vulnerable, shooting at random,” Duran said through a translator.” They say, ‘I can kill anyone in this neighborhood.'”
Duran said he warned his son to be careful. “He never thought it would happen to him,” Duran said. “I would recommend to all parents to be careful of their kids. [Kids] don’t trust anyone in their own neighborhood because these things are happening.
“It is a big loss for us,” Duran said. “I hope [Roberto] is blessed by God.”
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