Michael Medina

Michael Medina, a 20-year-old Hispanic man from Chicago, was remembered by those who knew him as goofy, fun, and very kind. A former student of Curie Highschool, his life was cut short by a sudden act of violence in the summer of 2019.

Late on the night of Thursday, June 6, 2019, Michael was a passenger in a Honda Odyssey van with three other men. They were traveling north on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive near the Fullerton Avenue exit in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Shortly before midnight, someone in a passing vehicle opened fire on the van, striking all four occupants.

The driver of the van sped off the expressway and pulled into a parking lot in the 3200 block of North Broadway to get help. When first responders arrived, they found a chaotic scene. Michael Medina had been shot multiple times in the chest and was pronounced dead. An autopsy later determined his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso, and his death was ruled a homicide.

The three other men in the van were all critically wounded in the attack. A 22-year-old man was shot in the arm, chest, and face; a 26-year-old man was shot in the head and torso; and another 20-year-old man was shot in the shoulder. All three were transported to area hospitals for treatment. One witness who saw the aftermath described hearing one of the wounded men yelling, "I've been shot, please be careful with me," as he was removed from the bullet-riddled vehicle.

Chicago police began an investigation into the drive-by shooting, with a police source suggesting the attack was possibly gang-related. However, no arrests were ever made in the case. As of the last public reports in June 2019, the shooting of Michael Medina and the wounding of his three companions remains unsolved.