Angel Bucio was excited to give his 12-year-son, Giovanne, a Play Station 5 for Christmas.
But Bucio couldn’t wait, so he gave it to Giovanne early. The two planned to set it up and play before Christmas, relatives said.
But Giovanne never got the chance. He was struck in a fatal hit-and-run Wednesday night on the Southwest Side. His aunt’s partner, Araceli Gutierrez, 48, also was killed.
The two were walking to a store to buy condensed milk, according to relatives who offered condolences Thursday at the family’s Gage Park home, where Giovanne lived with his 4-year-old brother.
Bucio’s parents are distraught, family said. Angel and his wife, Sandy, work in the kitchen at Churro Waffle in the Irving Park neighborhood, a restaurant owned by Angel Bucio’s brother.
Giovanne loved playing soccer, several relatives said.
“He was a good boy. The sweetest boy. He listened to his parents,” according to the boy’s cousin, Sonia Bucio, 17.
“He didn’t deserve what happened to him. Honestly, if I could, I would be the one to get hit instead,” she said.
“I couldn’t sleep all night when I found out that he was gone. He was a really respectful kid, he deserves so much better than this. This world is just terrible, you know?”
Sonia Bucio had a message for whoever was behind the wheel: “It’s OK to be scared. But just turn yourself in. Because I don’t know how you’re going to live with that feeling that you killed two people. You drove off. I don’t know how you could deal with that.”
A westbound driver hit the two about 8:10 p.m. in a crosswalk in the 3100 block of West 55th Street in Gage Park and kept on driving, Chicago police said.
The car possibly was a dark-colored 2009-2012 Chevy Malibu with front-end damage near the driver’s side headlight, police said in a community alert issued early Thursday.
Police asked anyone with information to call its Major Accidents Unit at 312-745-4521.
