Rosa Hernandez Rivera, 32, was shot while riding in a vehicle with family members in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
CHICAGO — A 32-year-old mother of five died Thursday, two weeks after she was shot while riding in a vehicle during what authorities and a local alderman have described as an apparent road-rage attack in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
Rosa Hernandez Rivera died Nov. 5 after being hospitalized since the Oct. 22 shooting, according to Chicago police and her family. The shooting is now being investigated as a homicide. Police had not announced an arrest as of Friday, and investigators had not publicly identified the person who fired the shots. The claim that road rage led to the shooting has been based on the circumstances of the encounter and comments from Ald. Raymond Lopez; police have not announced a final determination about a motive.
The shooting happened about 9:30 a.m. in the 2400 block of West 47th Street, near South Western Avenue. Police said Hernandez Rivera was a passenger in a vehicle when a gray sedan pulled alongside it and someone inside opened fire. She was struck and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition. The gray vehicle then fled south on Western Avenue, according to police. No other physical injuries were reported.
Hernandez Rivera spent the next two weeks hospitalized as relatives hoped she would recover. Her family told local news outlets that she had been in a coma following the shooting. Chicago police confirmed Thursday that she had died, turning an investigation that began as a shooting case into a homicide investigation. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that police said she was pronounced dead at 5:17 a.m.
Two of Hernandez Rivera’s young children were in the vehicle when the shooting occurred, according to her family and NBC Chicago. Her sister, Sonia Hernandez, said the children have struggled with what they witnessed. Family members described Hernandez Rivera as a devoted mother who worked to support her five children and said the two weeks between the shooting and her death had been especially difficult for the family.
Surveillance video obtained by local television stations showed Hernandez Rivera’s vehicle being followed closely shortly before the gunfire. Lopez said the confrontation may have begun several blocks before the shooting and that the other driver appeared to have become angry during the encounter. His description of the shooting as apparent road rage has not been announced by police as a confirmed motive, and investigators have not publicly detailed what, if anything, happened between the drivers before shots were fired.
In the hours after the shooting, police and local officials sought surveillance footage from businesses and homes along the route the vehicles may have traveled. Lopez said witnesses had described a gray four-door vehicle, while police consistently reported that a gray sedan fled southbound on Western Avenue. Investigators have not publicly released the identity of a suspect, and no arrest had been announced by Friday.
The attack drew attention in part because it occurred during the morning on a busy Southwest Side street. ABC7 Chicago reported that surveillance footage from a nearby business appeared to show Hernandez Rivera’s vehicle being followed shortly before the shooting. Lopez said at the time that the incident did not appear to be gang-related and expressed concern about violence developing from an ordinary traffic encounter.
Hernandez Rivera’s relatives spent much of the two weeks after the shooting calling for accountability while remaining at her side. Her sister told NBC Chicago after Hernandez Rivera died that the family had continued hoping for a recovery until the end. Family members have also spoken publicly about the emotional effect of the shooting on her children and the sudden loss facing a family of five children.
Chicago police Area One detectives continue to investigate the killing. Authorities have not publicly announced an arrest, named a suspect or confirmed a motive. Investigators are continuing to examine the circumstances surrounding the gray sedan and the events that preceded the shooting as Hernandez Rivera’s family prepares to mourn her death.