Latino male Frank Aguilar, 32, was shot to death on the night of November 12, 2019, in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood as he carried a bag of laundry to his family's home, still in his scrubs after a nursing shift.
Around 11:30 p.m., a gray Jeep Commander rolled past in the 3700 block of West 32nd Street and gunfire erupted; two. 45-caliber shell casings were recovered, and Aguilar was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died.
Police said the killing was a tragic case of
mistaken identity amid a gang feud; Aguilar had no gang ties.
He was a registered nurse at Misericordia Home, described by relatives as hardworking and compassionate, the first in his family to graduate college, with a fiancée and a close-knit family grieving on a candle-lit corner where he fell.
Detectives pieced together the path of the Jeep using private surveillance, city POD cameras and cell-phone records, noting distinctive details, including a red laser visible with muzzle flashes as the vehicle crept by.
The SUV was traced to the brother-in-law of 19-year-old Armando Lopez, a documented Latin Kings member; investigators alleged Lopez borrowed and drove the Jeep during the drive-by.
Three days after the homicide, officers tried to stop Lopez; he led them on a high-speed pursuit that ended in a crash and his arrest.
Initially booked on aggravated fleeing and traffic charges, Lopez was later charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bail.
Nearly a year after the shooting, police took a second suspect into custody, a juvenile whose identity was not released publicly, while family members continued pressing for answers and justice.
Earlier, authorities had said a 13-year-old was a person of interest; the working theory remained that the shooters were cruising for rival gang members and misidentified the 32-year-old man.
Almost six years later, there was a resolution in court.
In September 2025, Armando Lopez pleaded guilty to murder in Aguilar's death and received a 25-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections, with credit for time already served.
Prosecutors maintained Lopez was the driver of the Jeep and that another person likely fired the fatal shots.
