About 100 people gathered outside Adrianna Lopez’s Garfield Ridge home Friday night to honor the memory of the slain special education teacher.
Lopez was killed Sunday at about 9:30 p.m., shot more than 10 times as she returned home.
Cristobal Santana, 37, ex-boyfriend of Lopez, was arrested early Wednesday after police say he shot an Illinois State Police trooper in Springfield. The trooper was hospitalized in critical condition.
Santana, of Chicago, has since been charged with two counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery to a police officer, along with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He has not been charged in Lopez’s killing, though state police said Santana was wanted in connection with a murder investigation in Chicago.
Chicago police said no one was in their custody related to the shooting.
Relatives of Lopez said Santana had recently shown signs of violence toward Lopez and that she had filed an order of protection, though law enforcement had yet to confirm any details of an order of protection.
The 30-minute candlelight vigil, under occasional rain near Midway Airport, included prayers, and ended with the crowd yelling “Vive Adrianna.”
Many in the crowd were teachers Lopez had worked with.
Celia Martinez, a friend who taught alongside Lopez, called her a “social butterfly” who got along with many people she encountered through her time in education.
Lopez had been working as a Chicago Public Schools special education teacher at Nathan S. Davis Elementary School in the Brighton Park neighborhood for about three years.
“She has made many different friends and many different families along the way,” Martinez said. “We’re teachers. ... We come together when it’s one of our own.”
Martinez called Lopez an example for her students and her coworkers.
“What’s comforting all of us is that her memories always live on,” Martinez said. “And because of the kind of person she was, we will continue to live our lives the way she would want us to.”
Adriana Gutierrez, a close friend who attended grad school at National Louis University with Lopez, said Lopez aspired to be a principal after becoming the first person in her family to earn a degree, according to Gutierrez.
Gutierrez said Lopez’s family, especially her nieces, were “her life.” Gutierrez said she’s just trying to stay strong to support the Lopez family, though she’s been struggling herself.
“I haven’t been able to go to work,” Gutierrez said. “I feel blank.”
Gutierrez said she hoped Santana remains locked up.
“If he can stay behind bars and never hurt anybody again, that’s what we want,” Gutierrez said.
