Signals

<p>When Asucena Velazquez hugged her 17-year-old son before he left for school Tuesday morning, she never imagined he wouldn’t return home.</p><p>Pedro Ramirez was on his way from their Back of the Yards home to class at Tilden High School when he was fatally shot in the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/05/26/17-year-old-boy-killed-2-critically-wounded-in-back-of-the-yards-shooting" target="_blank" >5000 block of South Throop Street</a>.</p><p>“It never crossed my mind that my boy would get hurt going to school,” Velazquez told the Sun-Times. “They robbed my son of his future."</p><p>Around 7:40 a.m., a stolen black Jeep Cherokee with four masked assailants inside stopped behind a southbound red minivan near 51st Street, according to a police report. At least two of them got out of the Jeep brandishing a "long gun," and "fired dozens of rifle rounds" in the minivan's direction.</p><p>The two men who were inside the red minivan, 55 and 61, were shot but were able to drive away and call 911 for help — but the two-sport Tilden athlete and honor roll student collapsed.</p><p>"During the barrage of gunfire, the victim, who was walking westbound on the south side of 51st Street was inadvertently struck one time in the right side," the report said.

<p>A person taken into custody after Tuesday's <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/05/27/family-of-tilden-high-honor-roll-student-killed-while-walking-to-school-left-devastated" target="_blank" ><u>fatal shooting</u></a> of a high school junior who was walking to school in Back of the Yards has been released without charges, police said Thursday.</p><p>Pedro Ramirez, 17, was struck by stray gunfire about 7:40 a.m. while walking from his home to Tilden High School. Four masked assailants jumped out of a Jeep in the 5000 block of South Throop Street and fired toward a red minivan, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.</p><p>Pedro, who was on the school's soccer and volleyball team, was walking west on the south side of 51st Street at the time of the shooting, according to a police report.

When Asucena Velázquez hugged her 17-year-old son before he left for school Tuesday morning, she never imagined he would not return home.