16-year-old dead after Elgin gang shooting
By Janelle Walker For The Courier-News June 8, 2012 8:26AM
Elgin police work at the scene of a shooting Thursday evening downtown on Symphony Way near Dundee Avenue. Reports indicated one person was killed. | Janelle Walker~For The Courier-News
Updated: July 11, 2012 10:18AM
ELGIN — A 16-year-old boy was fatally wounded in what police say was a gang-related shooting Thursday night on the city’s east side.
The dead youth was identified as Nestor A. Alvarado. Police did not release his home address but said he lived in Elgin.
Police said they were called to the 800 block of East Chicago Street at approximately 7:40 p.m. Thursday for a reported shooting. According to police Lt. Dan O’Shea, a witness there provided a description of a car believed to have been involved in the incident.
Officers located that car a few minutes later near Dundee Avenue and Symphony Way, which is just a few blocks from police headquarters downtown.
Several people were inside the car, including Alvarado, who had been shot once in the chest. Elgin paramedics took the teen to Provena Saint Joseph Hospital. He was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.
“The police are now considering the homicide to be gang-related, and the investigation is active and ongoing,” said a press release from the Elgin Police Department.
Elgin’s Gang Crimes and Major Investigations Divisions were conducting the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call 847-289-2646 or the anonymous crime tip line at 847-695-4195.
Elgin School District U46 officials confirmed that Alvarado was a student in the district but declined to say which high school he attended.
U46 officials did say that counselors would be available for any student who needs to see one when summer school begins Monday.
