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SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE - Several people are being questioned in connection with the death of a 24-year-old man, killed while trying to stop a carjacking Sunday evening in west suburban Oak Park.
Christopher Daniel Florez, his friend who owned the car, and the friend’s young daughter left the 2016 Dodge Challenger running and unattended about 6:40 p.m. outside the Jewel store in the 7000 block of Roosevelt Road while they went to an outdoor DVD rental box, according to a statement from the Village of Oak Park.
When another man got into the car, Florez ran to the driver’s side, reached through the open window and grabbed the steering wheel as the carjacker sped west on Roosevelt, according to village officials. Florez clung to the side of the car as it turned north on Harlem, but was thrown into the southbound lanes near Fillmore Street.
Florez, a Westchester resident, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died at 9:42 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Monday found he died of multiple blunt force injuries suffered when he was dragged by the moving car. His death was ruled a homicide.
Witnesses described the carjacker as a black man between 30 and 40 with a thin build and shorts braids. He was wearing a dark sweater.
“While the actual carjacking still appears to be a crime of opportunity, finding the car on the west side of Chicago led police to multiple individuals who may have become connected with the incident,” village spokesman David Powers said in an email.
Several people are being questioned Wednesday morning, Powers said,
Anyone with information should call (708) 386-3800. Anonymous tips can be submitted at (708) 434-1636 or online at www.oak-park.us/crimetip.