Photo: Gloria Ocampo, the mother of Brian DeLeon's girlfriend, talks about the beating of Brian who was attacked at about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday in the Logan Square neighborhood as he left his Ocampo's house, according to Shakespeare District Police Captain Marc Buslik. The two had been doing homework at his house, then went to her house to walk her dog.
Sanctuary City of Chicago, IL - Fausto DeLeon and his wife spent the night at the bedside of their youngest child, praying and wondering who would beat their 14-year-old son so savagely that he was in a coma and on life-support."He is not involved in gangs, he is a good son. I don't know why they did this to him," said DeLeon, who added that his son Brian had chosen to enter a military academy this fall because it was a challenge.
"He's in a coma, it's serious," DeLeon said in a weary voice this morning.
Brian was attacked at about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday in the Logan Square neighborhood as he left his girlfriend's house, according to Shakespeare District Police Captain Marc Buslik. The two had been doing homework at his house, then went to her house to walk her dog.
As he walked home, the girl called him to make sure he got there safe, according to the girl's mother, Gloria Ocampo. But alll she got was his voicemail, then noticed a message from his phone. "You could hear fighting and words in English," Ocampo said.
She and her daughter drove around the corner and saw Brian on the ground in a pool of blood. He was conscious but struggled to speak.
"My daughter said, 'You're going to be OK, my love, my life," she said. "He looked at me with blood on his little face and I said don't move."
She said a man on the scene said he called 911, and police and ambulance crews showed up.
"She was so nervous I had to sleep with her and hold her all night," Ocampo said.
Police said there were apparently no witnesses and was no surveillance camera nearby. The closest camera is at Mozart Drive and Cortland Street, and police were hoping it captured the image of someone leaving the scene.
The attack happened near a playground behind Yates Elementary School. Neighbors said the area is known for gang activity. "It gets a little crazy sometimes," a neighbor said.
Ocampo said gang members regularly hang out in front of the store on the ground floor of her apartment building, which is across the street from Yates Elementary. Their apartment was broken into recent, she added, and a computer and TV stolen.
The boy's father said his son was attacked not far from the school. "He almost got back home," DeLeon said. "I don't know what to say, I just can't imagine that this happened.
"They told me that at first they didn't know if he was shot, and then they said they hit him with something," he added.
His wife called him this morning from Children's Memorial Hospital and told him that their son will undergo brain surgery for the second time. Doctors have told the couple that the boy's condition is grave. "You can just imagine."
He also worries about his two other children, a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman. "I worry about their safety," he said.
Brian just started school at Phoenix Marine Academy, a Chicago public school on the Near West Side, this fall. His girlfriend started at Schurz High School, where Brian's older brother also attends.
"He applied to several schools and he passed the test and so he said, 'I'm going there,' " DeLeon said.
He said his son is a devoted soccer player and he shuttles the boy to matches every week.
Ocampo said Brian has been dating her daughter for about the year. She and her husband were originally opposed, because they were so young, but Brian won them over.
DeLeon said he has not talked to his son's girlfriend, but saw her when she and the police showed up to his home last night to let him know what happened.
DeLeon said he spent the night at the hospital, but left to go to his job in a paint store at 5 a.m. His boss told him to return to his son, he said, adding that the family has remained at his bedside.
"The only thing left to us is just to pray," he said.
