Neighbors open hearts for Adrianna

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Teacher slain on Narragansett sidewalk

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By Tim Hadac

Garfield Ridge has opened its heart to help pay expenses relating funeral services for a 37-year-old woman shot and killed on a sidewalk near 54^th and Narragansett.

In less than a week, some 188 people have donated a total of $16,454 to a GoFundMe page set up to help the relatives of Adrianna Lopez with an assortment of end-of-life expenses.

Ms. Lopez, who had lived on the 5400 block of South Narragansett for about five years, was slain as she walked outside at 9:34 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22.

Ms. Lopez

Police initially said a man in a dark-colored SUV pulled up and fired multiple shots at the victim. She sustained 10 gunshot wounds to the body and was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where she was initially listed in critical condition but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police initially said only that she knew her attacker; but three days after the slaying, a man wanted in connection with the crime was arrested by Illinois State Police.

Cristobal Santana, 37, allegedly shot a state trooper in the leg during a traffic stop in Springfield on Oct. 25.  Charges relating to that shooting came on Oct. 26 from the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office. He was charged with two counts of attempted first degree murder, one count of aggravated battery with a firearm to a police officer, one count of aggravated battery to a police officer, and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

Ms. Lopez was a pre-kindergarten teacher at Davis Elementary School in the Brighton Park neighborhood. Grief counselors were said to be there to comfort students and help them process the tragedy.

According to published reports, Ms. Lopez had filed for an order of protection against Santana.

Santana was an ex-boyfriend of Ms. Lopez. In recent years, he changed his name. Santana had been known as Darrell Rice.

In the days before she was slain, Ms. Lopez enjoyed a visit from her parents, who had come up from the Mexico. They left a day before the killing.

Ms. Lopez was said not have children her own but was described as a loving and doting aunt to her nieces and nephews.

She was pursuing a master’s degree to further her career as a teacher.

Garfield Ridge residents reacted with a mix of emotions to the crime.

“This whole thing is just horrible, horrible,” said Eleanor Wasilewski, a 57-year resident of the community. “For that poor woman to be shot dead like that. What did she do to deserve that? Nothing. Nothing, I’m sure.”

Debbie Cranston said the killing “illustrates the ugliness and the brutality of domestic violence—and it shows that it can and does happen everywhere. It’s not just a crime of poor people of inner city neighborhoods, which so often it gets tagged as. If it can happen in a neighborhood as nice as Garfield Ridge, it can happen anywhere.”

Jose Iniguez said he hopes “something good can come out of all this. I teach my sons to be respectful of girls, and I teach them that violence solves nothing—that it often only leads to more violence. I hope all parents, especially parents of boys, think about this crime and use it as an opportunity to teach their kids to be better people.”

Services for Ms. Lopez were handled by Marin Funeral Home. As public attention surrounding the case grew, the family had Marin remove details about services from their website.