Ramon Salgado, a 22-year-old Hispanic man known to his family as “Munchie,” was a father and a handyman trying to build a life for his young daughter. Raised by his grandmother in Chicago, he was deeply affected by her death in 2005. According to his aunt, Susan Muncy, the loss of the person he counted on most was an "emotional trigger" that led the then 15-year-old Ramon to seek a sense of family in the Two Six street gang. Despite this affiliation, his family remembered him as more than his street life; they called him “Mr. Fix it” for his knack for repairing cars and other household items. In the time before his death, Ramon was working at a clothing store in the North Riverside Mall and was trying to get more hours to better provide for his 2-year-old daughter, Diani.
The early afternoon of Wednesday, March 21, 2012, was the last of Ramon’s life. He was in an alley near his home in the Little Village neighborhood, on the 2800 block of South Kildare Avenue. He was helping a friend repair a roof and had stepped aside to take a phone call at around 1:13 p.m. Suddenly, a dark-colored SUV appeared in the alley, and an occupant opened fire on Ramon. The vehicle then sped away from the scene. Struck by the gunfire, Ramon was critically injured. Paramedics rushed him to Mount Sinai Hospital, but his wounds were too severe. He was pronounced dead approximately half an hour after the shooting.
The investigation was handled by Chicago Police Area Central detectives. Authorities publicly stated that the shooting was possibly gang-related, a theory his aunt did not dispute, though she did not know a specific motive. Life on the streets had been hard on Ramon; in the summer of 2011, he had been badly beaten and required surgery. His involvement with the gang had also strained his relationship with the mother of his child, who worried for their daughter’s safety.
In the aftermath of the murder, Ramon's family made the difficult decision to hold his funeral services on the North Side, far from Little Village, to prevent any potential for gang conflict or retaliation at his memorial. “I’m tired of the gangs,” his aunt, Susan Muncy, told reporters. “I don’t want to see any spilled blood. I don’t want gang retaliation and I don’t think Munchie would want that.” She expressed a deep wish that things could have been different for her nephew, reflecting on the difficult choices young people face.
Ramon Salgado’s death was one of many that year, which saw a significant spike in homicides across Chicago. The Little Village neighborhood, in particular, experienced a series of violent incidents around that time. Just four days before Ramon was killed, a 6-year-old girl, Aliyah Shell, was shot and killed just a mile away. The violence underscored the profound challenges facing many of the city’s communities.
As of the latest available information from early 2013, no arrests have been made in connection with the murder of Ramon Salgado. The investigation remains open but unsolved. There have been no public updates on suspects or persons of interest from the Chicago Police Department. The case is a painful, unresolved loss for a family that remembers a young man who, despite his struggles, was a beloved father and a helpful "Mr. Fix it" taken from them in a moment of brutal violence.
