CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of mourners lined the streets Monday to say farewell to a Chicago police officer who was shot to death while off-duty and heading home from work.
Police officers, firefighters and others gathered along the funeral procession route to St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel in Chicago to remember 30-year-old officer Luis M. Huesca. The six-year veteran of the police department was just two days shy of his 31st birthday when he was slain.
Huesca was shot multiple times shortly before 3 a.m. on April 21 on the city’s Southwest Side. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Huesca was in uniform but wearing something on top of the uniform to cover it as is customary for off-duty officers, Superintendent Larry Snelling said.
Police have said that officers responded to a gunshot detection alert and found the officer outside with gunshot wounds. His vehicle was taken, but police have not confirmed whether the shooting was part of a carjacking.
An arrest warrant was issued last week for a 22-year-old man suspected in the shooting. The Associated Press is not naming the suspect because he has yet to be captured and arraigned.
Police have said the man should be considered armed and dangerous.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s schedule released Sunday night said he would attend Huesca's funeral but an update sent to reporters Monday morning said he would not be present.
The change came after Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a Democrat, said in an early Monday morning post on the social platform X that the officer’s mother asked Mendoza to tell Johnson he was “unwelcome” at the funeral. Mendoza said she and state Rep. Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar, also a Democrat, called Johnson on Sunday night to pass on the message.
“We continue to send our deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of Officer Luis Huesca as they heal from the loss of their beloved son, nephew, brother and friend,” Johnson said in a written statement Monday morning. “As mayor, I vow to continue supporting our police and first responders, uniting our city and remaining committed to working with everyone towards building a better, stronger, safer Chicago."
Huesca was friends with Chicago police officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso who was slain in March 2023 during a shootout after responding to a domestic violence call. Huesca had honored Vásquez Lasso in a video.
Fellow officer Lucia Chavez said during Monday's service that she was friends with Vásquez Lasso and Huesca.
“When we were at the academy, I remember ... that during our training the instructor said ‘this uniform makes us family. If one fell, we all fell,’" Chavez said. “I didn't understand that. Now, I do. I lost Andrés first. And now, Luis. I lost my two classmates, my best friends, my brothers. The violence in this city took them away from me, from us."
Snelling, the superintendent, said Huesca “left an impression.”
“He was always trying to leave things better than he found them,” Snelling said. "The protection of others is what he wanted every single day.”
Huesca was born in Chicago's Avondale community. He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago, according to his obituary.
He is survived by his parents, Emiliano and Edith Huesca; a sister, Liliana O'Brien; and a brother, Emiliano Huesca Jr.
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Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Michigan.
This story was updated to correct that the Illinois comptroller's first name is Susana, not Susan.
The family of Chicago police Officer Luis Huesca, including his mother Edith Huesca, and his sister, Lily O'Brien, follow his casket inside St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel for his funeral on Monday, April 29, 2024. Hundreds of mourners lined the streets to say farewell to the police officer who was shot to death while off-duty and heading home from work. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)
Cardinal Blase Cupich, third from left, attends the funeral for Chicago police Officer Luis M. Huesca on April 29, 2024, in Chicago. Hundreds of mourners lined the streets to say farewell to the police officer who was shot to death while off-duty and heading home from work. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)
The funeral program for Chicago police Officer Luis M. Huesca on April 29, 2024 at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel. Hundreds of mourners lined the streets to say farewell to the police officer who was shot to death while off-duty and heading home from work. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool) (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)
BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovak politicians have called for calm in the Central European country after Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times by a would-be assassin on Wednesday, a rare instance of political violence that came as a shock despite deep political polarization.
Fico was in serious but stable condition Thursday, a hospital official said, after the populist leader was hit multiple times in an attempt on his life that shook the small country and reverberated across the continent weeks before European elections.
A suspect was in custody, and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said Wednesday that an initial investigation found “a clear political motivation” behind the attack on Fico while he was attending a government meeting in a former coal mining town.
The minister did not specify what the motivation was. Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, and his return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American message led to even greater worries among fellow European Union members that he would abandon his country's pro-Western course.
The attempt on Fico’s life Wednesday came at a time of high polarization in Slovakia, as thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly rallied in the capital and around the country to protest his policies. It also comes just ahead of June elections for the European Parliament.
Outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, a political rival of Fico, said Thursday that the heads of the country’s political parties would meet in an effort to bring calm and “refuse violence.”
“We want to call on everyone to to be responsible,” Caputova said at a news conference in the capital Bratislava.
Caputova was speaking alongside Peter Pellegrini, a Fico ally who is Slovakia's president-elect. Their joint message was a gesture toward reducing the inflamed political tensions that have gripped the country in recent months and an appeal to Slovaks not to give in to political divisions.
“This assassination attempt deserves a joint and unequivocal condemnation,” Pellegrini said. “I call on all parties in Slovakia to interrupt or at least significantly reduce their campaign for the European Parliament election, because the campaign is naturally linked to confrontation, and confrontation is the last thing Slovakia needs at the moment.”
Fico's government, elected last September, has halted arms deliveries to Ukraine, and has plans to amend the penal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor and to take control of public media. His critics worry that he will lead Slovakia — a nation of 5.4 million that belongs to NATO — down a more autocratic path.
Zuzana Eliasova, a resident of the capital Bratislava, said the attack on Fico was a “shock” to the nation and an attack on democracy at a time when political tensions were already running high.
“I believe that a lot of people or even the whole society will look into their conscience, because the polarization here has been huge among all different parts of society," she said.
Doctors performed a five-hour operation on Fico, who was initially reported to be in life-threatening condition, according to director of the F.D. Roosevelt Hospital in Banska Bystrica, Miriam Lapunikova. He is being treated in an intensive care unit.
Five shots were fired outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, nearly 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of the capital, government officials said.
Slovakia's Security Council was set to meet in the capital of Bratislava on Thursday to discuss the situation, a government office said, adding that a government meeting would follow.
Fico returned to power in Slovakia last year, having previously served twice as prime minister. He and his Smer party have most often been described as left-populist, though he has also been compared to politicians on the right like the nationalist prime minister of neighboring Hungary, Viktor Orbán.
Fico’s comeback caused concern among his critics that he and his party — which had long been tainted by scandal — would lead Slovakia away from the Western mainstream. He promised a tough stance against migration and non-governmental organizations and campaigned against LGBTQ+ rights.
Despite the controversy surrounding Fico's leadership, condemnation of the attack came from both his allies and adversaries. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to President Caputova, expressing his support and wishing the prime minister a fast and full recovery.
“This atrocious crime cannot be justified,” Putin said in the message released by the Kremlin. “I know Robert Fico as a courageous and strong-willed person. I truly hope these personal qualities will help him overcome this harsh situation.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also denounced the violence against a neighboring country’s head of government.
“Every effort should be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, form or sphere,” he said.
Josek and Jenne reported from Bratislava, Slovakia. Associated Press journalists Jan Gebert in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed.
Police cars are parked outside the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, is treated in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting after a political event Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile.(AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A police line is placed outside the entrance of the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, is treated in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting after a political event Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile.(AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Slovakia's prime minister was attacked by an armed assailant and hospitalized Wednesday. (AP Graphic)
Rescue workers wheel Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, to a hospital in the town of Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Jan Kroslak/TASR via AP)
Police arrest a man after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and injured following the cabinet's away-from-home session in the town of Handlova, Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile. (Radovan Stoklasa/TASR via AP)
Rescue workers wheel Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, to a hospital in the town of Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile. (Jan Kroslak/TASR via AP)
Rescue workers take Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, to a hospital in the town of Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile. (Jan Kroslak/TASR via AP)
FILE - Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico arrives to a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Media reports say on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 that Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was injured in a shooting and taken to hospital. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
Rescue workers wheel Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, to a hospital in the town of Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile. (Jan Kroslak/TASR via AP)
Police arrest a man after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and injured following the cabinet's away-from-home session in the town of Handlova, Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Fico is in life-threatening condition after being wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon, according to his Facebook profile. (Radovan Stoklasa/TASR via AP)
