A Little Village street vendor was working just a few feet away from his wife and baby Wednesday afternoon when he was killed in a shooting that also wounded three women.
Antonio “Coco” Padilla, 46, is being remembered as a beloved vendor in Little Village who was a “devoted father to [five children], brother and a cherished friend to many,” his family wrote in a GoFundMe created to raise funeral expenses.
The shooting happened about 4:30 p.m. near 26th Street and St. Louis Avenue, according to Chicago police. Police released no other details and did not provide any motive.
Estella Aguilera works at a nearby bridal shop with her mother and was helping a customer at the counter Wednesday when they heard “a lot of popping noises,” she said.
“I looked at my mom and was like, ‘That was not fireworks.’ And then she said, ‘Lock the door, lock the door,’” Aguilera said.
A couple minutes later, Aguilera went outside and “saw people on the ground.”
That’s when Aguilera heard Padilla’s wife cry out his name and realized that during the shooting, she and their 1-year-old boy had been in Padilla’s truck, parked next to his fruit cart on 26th Street.
Padilla was shot several times and pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital, officials said.
The three women who were shot were taken to Mount Sinai and survived. Two also were street vendors; the other was a customer, Aguilera said. One was age 25, one was 42 and the third was 47.
Aguilera regularly would run into Padilla and his family throughout the neighborhood. He was a “nice guy” and a “family man,” she said.
“At 2 p.m. [Wednesday], I was over there and I bought some fruit [from Padilla],” Aguilera said. “He was just talking about how his baby is so big and he’s walking now. I was like, ‘He’s your twin, he looks just like you, bro.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, look at that little guy.’”
“To me, he was a family guy,” Aguilera said. “He always had his kids by him and his wife by him.”
Chicago police on Thursday released surveillance footage showing three people wanted in connection to the shooting.
The videos show three people in a white sedan at a gas station shortly before the shooting. All three people are seen wearing face coverings with dark hoodies and dark pants. Police described them as weighing about 160 pounds to 180 pounds and between 5 feet, 10 inches and 6 feet tall.
Cook County Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can provide information leading to an arrest in the shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Area 4 detectives at 312-746-8252. Anonymous tips can be submitted at cpdtip.com.