• Andres Vasquez Lasso was shot and killed in front of innocent kids.
• The shooting that claimed the life of another Chicago Police officer occurred outside a school on March 1st, 2023, Wednesday.
• Officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso, 32, was shot several times while chasing an armed suspect. 

Officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso, 32, was shot several times as he chased an armed suspect around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday in the 5200 block of South Spaulding Avenue, across the street from Sawyer Elementary School.

The woman who called 911 told the authorities that the brutal shooting occurred in front of many kids playing. 

According to witnesses, the sound of the shots being fired terrorized the innocent children, who started scurrying behind slides and whatever else they could find for cover.

The woman who reported the incident to 911 said her 10-year-old sister was playing with other kids when they saw the suspect, identified by police as 18-year-old Steven Montano, pull a gun on Vasquez-Lasso. 

“I feel sorry for the loss of the police officer’s family and his colleagues and friends,” the woman said, asking not to be named out of concern for her safety. “But I’m glad they were there to keep my sister and her friends safe.”

Vasquez-Lasso was indeed a hero as, despite his wounds, he was able to return fire and shoot Montano in the head, according to police. Montano was reported in critical condition at Stroger Hospital.

On the following day, Montano was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm near a school, as well as misdemeanor counts of simple assault and interfering with reporting domestic violence.

Officer Vasquez Lasso was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. 

Many officers gathered at the hospital to pay their respects and condolences to the fallen officer. 

The procession took the late officer’s body to the Cook County morgue on the West Side.

A woman, Maria Dávila, was watching a movie in her home when the shooting happened. Dávila, 44, said she thought it was fireworks at first when she heard a loud noise.

She went to the window and saw Montano in a parking lot next to the playground, holding his chest and shouting, and another man, Vasquez-Lasso, lying closer to the playground and not moving. 

Montano yelled, “shoot me shoot me” at a second officer standing between him and Vasquez-Lasso.

The kids hiding behind the slides and panels watched all of this happening for at least 20 minutes. 

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