On October 14, 2022, 14-year-old Eric Casique was fatally shot inside an apartment in the 500 block of Piper Lane in Prospect Heights, Illinois. Emergency services arrived about 3:15 p.m.; Eric had a gunshot wound to the chest and was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide.

Investigators say Eric had been socializing in the apartment with three other juveniles and a 19-year-old man. Initial accounts shifted as interviews continued: the 19-year-old admitted fleeing the scene but denied shooting anyone; the juveniles later said they had been passing around an unloaded .380 pistol and dry firing it until one juvenile inserted a loaded magazine, chambered a round, and another juvenile—believing the gun was empty—pointed it at Eric and pulled the trigger. The juvenile who fired the shot confessed and was charged with involuntary manslaughter and taken to the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago. Identities of the juveniles have been withheld because of their age.

Eric was an eighth-grade student at Lake Cook Young Adult Academy, played three years for the soccer team Leones, and loved video games, music, and his cat Luna. His parents are Heriberto Casique and Irania Torres; his siblings are Yessica Reynoso, Estephanie Reynoso, and Esmeralda Casique. His family started a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.

Did anyone in the Prospect Heights area know Eric or have information about what happened in that apartment?