Youth Killed by Gangs While Visiting Female Friend
Written by DJ Special Blend from Chicago on May 5, 2009
15 year old Alex Arellano was kicking it with a female friend when he was approached by a group of young men who asked him with which gang he was affiliated.
Arellano had no police record or gang affiliations
The group left the youth, but returned and the story ends in tragedy. The youth ended up being beaten, shot, burned and buried allegedly by the group of young men.
The group attacked the boy with bats, struck him with a vehicle, chased him down a gangway and shot him in the head. They then burned his body, police said.
Police had “good leads,” one source said, but no one was in custody Monday evening. Police say they’re investigating whether the teen was targeted by gang members simply for being in an unfamiliar neighborhood.
“Why it escalated to this level of violence, we don’t know,” one source said.
At a memorial for the teen in the Gage Park neighborhood where he was killed, Arellano’s uncle Juan Tirado pleaded for the public’s help in identifying those responsible. Arellano’s mother and sister, distraught with grief, were carried away to nearby cars by friends as relatives gathered in the gangway where his body was found.
“I just want to say whoever saw this, please come forward,” Tirado said. “He was just a kid.”
His aunt Maggie Tirado knelt and touched the blood-stained sidewalk. Candles and flowers surrounded the spot.
“He was a good kid,” she said with tears streaming down her face. “My kids can’t understand why someone would do this to him. You just didn’t take a life. You took a world.”
A friend said the family was working on funeral arrangements.
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DJ Special Blend from Chicago On May 5, 2009 at 11:15 am
Vichelle Sanders at 12:10pm May 5
That’s the thing Marie they don’t think and they don’t value life. Theirs or no one else. We need serious prayer like hands across America!
DJ Special Blend from Chicago On May 5, 2009 at 11:08 am
VIA FACEBOOK – Marie Cedillo at 12:05pm May 5
My heart aches every time I hear about a young person killed. This one was just a little too much for me. What were they thinking when they this. Did they think of his poor mom, or his sister. I mean I can’t even put into words how angry and upset it makes me. They have no value for life. YES we need to keep our youth in prayer!!!!!
DJ Special Blend from Chicago On May 5, 2009 at 10:54 am
VIA FACEBOOK – Vichelle Sanders at 11:38am May 5
I actually cried last night while watching the news! I have 14 year old twin boys and I pray for their safety in the streets everyday. This gang violence has gotten totally out of control and the sad thing is, no one wants to get involved. The young lady that was with him is now in terrible danger. The ones that did it have no remorse. I feel the need to reach out to the youth, but I really don’t know how. But for now I just pray!!!!!
DJ Special Blend from Chicago On May 5, 2009 at 10:54 am
VIA FACEBOOK – Caryn Lee at 10:05am May 5
The sad thing is that, from the every beginning, I told people that another kid did this….I maintain that several lives were lost when poor Alex met his end. That chick will carry that boy’s blood on her hands as much as the guy who did it because she KNEW that they meant him no good will!
DJ Special Blend from Chicago On May 5, 2009 at 10:52 am
VIA FACEBOOK – Thomas Bowling at 9:47am May 5
That shtt is a shame. Cat can’t go see a lil lady and enjoy his day
DJ Special Blend from Chicago On May 5, 2009 at 10:51 am
VIA FaceBook – Sa’Rah Valentine Mitchell at 9:26am May 5
Yeah this is sooo sad I saw this on the news yesterday!
DJ Special Blend from Chicago On May 5, 2009 at 10:50 am
Damon Smith at 9:16am May 5
the last report i heard yesterday was that the female “friend” lured Alex to the spot….