Mario Medina, a 65-year-old Hispanic/Latino man, was killed on December 12, 2023, in a drive-by shooting outside his family’s home in Chicago’s Chicago Lawn neighborhood. Medina was with his teenage grandson, Juan A. Medina Jr., in the 3500 block of West 61st Place when a Kia Soul approached shortly before 4:30 p.m. What had been an ordinary afternoon outside the residence suddenly turned violent when gunfire erupted from the vehicle.
According to a police report described by the Chicago Sun-Times, Juan had gone outside to meet his girlfriend and two other friends. Medina was on the front porch when an eastbound Kia Soul stopped in front of the residence. Realizing the danger, Medina began trying to get his grandson back inside the house. Gunfire came from the driver’s side of the Kia as Juan attempted to run through a gangway for safety. The teenager was struck in the back of the head, while Medina was struck in the back and abdomen as he turned and attempted to escape the barrage.
Emergency personnel transported Medina to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition. He could not be saved and was pronounced dead later that evening, with the Cook County medical examiner’s office recording his death at approximately 6:16 p.m. Juan was also killed in the attack. Investigators recovered 19 spent shell casings from the scene, illustrating the intensity of the gunfire. The Kia fled west on 61st Place and then headed south on Central Park Avenue.
Early reports indicated that police were looking for two male suspects associated with the gray or silver vehicle. Investigators initially had no one in custody and did not publicly identify a motive. A community crisis responder said there had apparently been some type of altercation before the shooting, but authorities had not established publicly whether the Medinas knew the people responsible or why the residence was targeted.
The investigation produced an arrest three days later. Chicago police arrested a teenage suspect in the 6700 block of South Artesian Avenue on December 15 after investigators identified him as one of the people allegedly responsible for the killings. He was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Police initially withheld his name because he was a juvenile, although later court-focused reporting publicly identified the accused shooter as Eli Rivera.
Prosecutors alleged that Rivera was driving a stolen Kia Soul when the shooting occurred. Three witnesses reportedly told investigators they saw him firing a gun through the driver's-side window as the vehicle traveled along the block. Authorities recovered ammunition during his arrest that prosecutors said was the same brand and caliber as the 19 cartridge casings recovered where Medina and his grandson were shot. Prosecutors also pointed to social-media videos allegedly showing Rivera displaying firearms, making threats and making statements that a judge characterized as incriminating. Some of the weapons shown in those videos were allegedly modified to operate fully automatically.
At the time of the double killing, prosecutors said Rivera was already awaiting trial in an unrelated felony stolen-motor-vehicle case stemming from an arrest earlier in 2023. Following the murder charges, Judge Charles Beach ordered him detained while the prosecution proceeded. The charges remained accusations, and the available reporting located for this synopsis does not establish a later conviction or sentence in Medina’s killing.
Authorities also indicated that another person may have participated in the shooting. Reports describing two gunmen said the second suspect had not been located in the immediate aftermath of Rivera’s arrest, and police continued investigating the circumstances surrounding the attack. No publicly reported motive had been established in the sources reviewed, leaving unanswered why a vehicle stopped outside the Medina home and unleashed the gunfire that killed both grandfather and grandson.
