David Hresil was 18 years old, a senior at St. Rita of Cascia High School, walking home through Chicago's West Lawn neighborhood on Jan. 8, 2009, when someone shot him 12 times near 60th Street and Springfield Avenue. He was found on the sidewalk with shell casings scattered around him. Seventeen years later, his family says they still don't know who killed him or why.
The shooting, covered by FOX 32 Chicago, left Hresil's mother, Monica Hresil, scrambling after she got a phone call at a laundromat telling her to get home right away. She has struggled for years to make sense of the brutality of the attack. “Why would somebody shoot somebody 12 times? I just couldn't understand it at all,” she said. Hresil's mother added starkly, “It's torn our family apart.”
Police said witnesses reported seeing a 1990s four-door Chevrolet Suburban fleeing the scene moments after the shooting, but the family has been left to consider their own theories about what happened that night. Per his sister, the family has weighed the possibility of mistaken identity as a potential explanation for why David was targeted. She said she hopes that whoever is responsible will eventually be held accountable.
A Family Still Holding Onto Memories
Hresil's sister, Linda Hresil, remembers him for the joy he brought to those around him. “When I look at his smile, I feel happiness because he was a happy kid,” she said. The family is asking anyone with information about the killing to come forward, hoping that after all this time, someone will finally speak up.
Hresil had an uncle, Brother Gary Hresil, who taught senior theology at St. Rita and served as the school's activities director, according to legacy.chicagocatholic.com, which covered the shock that rippled through the St. Rita community in the days after the killing. Cook County Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for information leading to an arrest, and tipsters can remain anonymous by calling 1-800-535-STOP (7867).
A Case That Fits a Troubling Pattern
Hresil's case remains unresolved amid broader concerns about Chicago's homicide clearance rates. The University of Chicago Crime Lab has found that the city's clearance rates for homicides and non-fatal shootings are among the lowest of any major American city, a gap researchers are studying through an exploration of homicides and arrests spanning from 1965 to 2020. The Crime Lab also notes that the Chicago Police Department opened its first Area Technology Center in Area South in early 2019, with five such centers operating across the city as of 2023.
Even when Chicago Police do mark fatal-shooting cases as closed, that doesn't always mean someone was convicted. According to The Trace, almost 36 percent of the city's closed fatal-shooting cases between 2010 and 2024 were cleared through a category known as exceptional means, rather than an arrest leading to prosecution. Of the roughly 2,700 fatal-shooting cases the department declared closed during that span, nearly a quarter were cleared only because prosecutors declined to file charges.
For the Hresil family, those statistics offer little comfort. What they want is the same thing they've wanted since that January night in 2009: a name, an explanation, and some measure of accountability for the person who took David's life.
