On the evening of May 31, 2021, 38-year-old Joseph Joe Schelstraete of Hobart, Indiana, was working as an Uber driver in Cicero, Illinois, when four armed individuals approached his blue Ford Focus at 23rd Street and 55th Avenue. They demanded his money and cellphone; he surrendered both without resistance. Despite complying, one assailant shot him in the head. The attackers fled south. Schelstraete was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in serious condition and was declared brain-dead; he was pronounced dead on June 2, 2021 at 11:49 a.m. His family kept him on life support to enable organ donation.

Schelstraete balanced two jobs to support his three children, working for Uber and at a local steel mill; family describe him as having a dry sense of humor and a constant smile and as a loving, engaged father. Cicero police arrested a juvenile male about two blocks from the scene; three other suspects remain unidentified and are considered armed and dangerous. Investigators are also examining a similar carjacking at the same location about three weeks earlier.

If anyone has information about the shooting, the suspects, or the series of incidents at that intersection, please share what is known.