Northlake man’s murder by gunfire through window was gang retaliation: police
BY MITCH DUDEK Staff Reporter mdudek@suntimes.com February 7, 2012 8:02AM
Updated: February 7, 2012 11:52PM
Northlake Police are certain gang retaliation was behind the shooting death of an 18-year-old man who was watching TV at home early Tuesday when five bullets came through his living room window.
One of the bullets struck James Romero in the arm and went through his chest at 12:05 a.m. at his home in the 200 block of South 45th Avenue, Northlake Police Chief Dennis Koletsos said.
Romero, who was pronounced dead a short time later at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, had been home with his parents and at least one brother.
No one else was injured.
The gunman fired the shots from the sidewalk a few yards away.
Police said Romero belonged to a gang.
Northlake Police are asking for tips that might lead to the shooter.
It was Northlake’s first murder this year.
Last year, the town of about 12,000 just south of O’Hare International Airport had only one murder.
It was not gang-related.
“We certainly have a gang problem . . . we devote a great deal of resources to that issue, but this is not a common occurrence,” Koletsos said.
