OAK FOREST, Ill. — As dozens gathered Monday night to remember the three victims killed in domestic violence shooting in Oak Forest last week, a man who lost his two children and ex-wife spoke out publicly for the first time.
“I’m broken,” said Jorge Rodriguez. “I miss my babies.”
Jorge Rodriguez’s children, 20-year-old Emilio and 22-year-old Briana Rodriguez, were killed along with his ex-wife, the children’s mother- 43-year-old Lupe Gomez.
“She was a wonderful person and this shouldn’t have happened,” one mourner said.
Around 6:30 Friday morning, neighbors called Oak Forest police after seeing Gomez’s husband, 44-year-old Carlos Gomez, allegedly shooting his wife and her two older children in the driveway of their home in the 5500 block of Ann Marie Lane in Oak Forest.
Witnesses say Carlos Gomez then ran back inside, barricading himself in the home. Police say he then set it on fire.
The Cook County Medical Examiner later confirmed that authorities found Carlos Gomez with a headshot wound inside the house.
The couple’s two teenage daughters escaped the home uninjured.
“Domestic violence has to stop,” the father said.
Jorge and his longtime fiancé Dawn Guerrero say they fought for years for custody of Briana and Emilio. They even went to court in 2016 after police records show officers arrested Carlos Gomez for assault and domestic battery.
“When I left that courtroom, I told them all that if they didn’t get these children away from him, meaning Carlos, he was going to end up killing them and here they are gone,” the kid’s stepmother said.
Neighbors reported seeing police activity recently at the residence.
Those in attendance held purple candles for Domestic Violence Awareness to spread the word that help is out there for those who need it.
The family hopes the two surviving sisters will get the support they need to deal with the trauma.
“They had to deal with whatever was happening in the house before, to watch their brother and sister lying on the floor dead and seeing their mother; they had to run past her. How do you fix that?” Dawn Guerrero said. “It’s just a travesty all the way around.”