New to U.S., man fatally stabbed in River North
BY SUN-TIMES MEDIA August 4, 2012 10:04AM
Updated: August 5, 2012 12:36AM
Authorities have identified the man who was stabbed to death after a fight with a group of people in the River North area early Saturday.
Eric Lopez, 20, died from injuries he suffered in the stabbing, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He had recently moved to Chicago from Puerto Rico, according to a law enforcement source.
Lopez was in a van with a group about 3:45 a.m. at the BP gas station at LaSalle and Ontario where the problems started. He and his friends clashed with a group in a party bus that pulled into the gas station, the source says.
The van drove off before Lopez could get in, so he ran — with people from the party bus following him on foot. When the people in the van noticed Lopez was not with them, they turned back and found him in the 600 block of North LaSalle Street, suffering from multiple stab wounds, the source said.
A 17-year-old relative of his also was stabbed in the area, police said. The teen was treated for multiple lacerations at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and released Saturday
Lopez also was taken to Northwestern, where he was pronounced dead at 4:18 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
The source said Lopez had no criminal history. Detectives could not immediately confirm a report of gang signs being flashed in the encounter in the gas station.
The gas station where the fight occurred is in a busy area of the River North neighborhood, across from the Rock n’ Roll McDonald’s restaurant and a few blocks from the Ontario Street expressway feeder ramp.
No one is in custody, and Area Central detectives are investigating.
