By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – Family and friends of a Bloomington man murdered in a shooting last month on Riley Drive claim he died while trying to help a young neighbor when he heard gunshots.
Documents filed in McLean County Court show Juan Perez-Macedo, 33, also known as Carlos, came to the aid of a four-year old boy, who was seriously wounded in the attack.
The details were made public in McLean County’s request for Wisconsin authorities to return suspected killer Sydney Mays to the Twin-Cities. Milwaukee Police arrested Mays, 21, on drug charges almost a month after the June 18 shooting that left three men dead on Bloomington’s east side.
Carlos, who lived on the second floor of the Riley Drive apartment building, heard gunshots and ran upstairs to check on the child. A woman, believed to be Carlos’ wife, heard several more gunshots. The boy was flown by helicopter to a Peoria hospital. The child survived, but social media reports indicate he’s paralyzed.
Police reportedly found 14 bullet shell casings in the building and four more outside.
The extradition request also said Mays tagged Pena and Jackson in a Facebook post demanding they stop trying to “scare us.”
Police reported a surveillance camera showed a white sports utility vehicle arriving in the area just before the shooting and pulling away shortly after that. Illinois State Police said they stopped the SUV, on I-74 and Mitsubishi Motorway, about a hour after the killings. Mays was identified as one of three people in the vehicle, but that was before he was considered a suspect.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
