By Steve Metsch
On what would have been his 37th birthday, the family of Morales Ricardo Lopez gathered at his grave in Evergreen Park Cemetery.
Lopez, of Blue Island, was gunned down in McCook early Feb. 17, leaving behind a widow and three children.
His family, other relatives and friends gathered at his grave on a somber April 28, his widow, Ana Lopez, recalled Tuesday morning.
“It was hard. It was a Sunday, after church,” she said. “We go (to his grave) every Sunday.”
Noting that Sunday, May 12, is Mothers’ Day, Ana said it will be particularly difficult for her mother-in-law who is “devastated” since her son’s murder.
“It’s hard for all of us to accept how a life can be taken away. There’s no good reason.
“My husband was a man of God. Because of God’s grace, we are still on our feet, because of our faith, but it’s been very difficult for all of us,” Ana said.
Ana spoke about her late husband after she, family members and friends attended a status hearing Tuesday, May 7, for Sisto A. Brito, the man charged with killing her husband.
The hearing in Room 110 at the Bridgeview Courthouse lasted roughly one minute.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge John “Terry” Gallagher scheduled another status hearing for 9:30 a.m. June 12 in the Room 110.
Brito, in custody at the Cook County Jail, appeared in court wearing eyeglasses and a tan Department of Corrections coverall. His long hair was pulled back.
Brito, 32, faces one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder for the shooting that killed Lopez and seriously wounded another man.
A parking lot dispute outside the All Star Bar, 7949 W. 47th Street, boiled over and led to the shootings, McCook police have said.
Asked about that night, Ana Lopez said her husband “was out with his friends.”
Ana, 35, said she met her husband when both attended Curie High School in Chicago.
They have three children, a 19-year-old son and two daughters, ages 18 and 7.
She declined to share the children’s names but said her eldest daughter will soon be graduating from Eisenhower High School in Blue Island.
“Her life is kind of frozen,” she said.
Their youngest daughter has been hit especially hard, she said.
“They were like this,” Ana said as she held two fingers closely together.
“She was Daddy’s princess. She was raised in a Christian home. She knows Daddy is in heaven. And she knows he’s going to meet with him one day again. That’s what keeps us going, our faith in Christ,” Ana said.
Her brother, Jesus Dorantes, of Chicago, said the family is still trying to come to grips with his brother-in-law’s death.
“None of us got to say goodbye,” he said.
“It’s still a hard pill to swallow. Sometimes, I wake up and think of how I would call him. Then, I realize he’s not there. It’s hard,” Dorantes said.
“I was close to him. He was my best friend. I’ve known him since we were 12. We played soccer together,” Dorantes, 37, said.
Dorantes said he feels for his nephew and nieces: “I can’t imagine losing my father.”
McCook Police said comments made regarding the way Brito had pulled into a parking space led to a fistfight followed by the shootings, police said.
Lopez, who had fled on foot with another man, was shot to death down the block on Joliet Avenue near Joliet Road at 1:40 a.m. Feb. 17, police said.
“The way I see it, (Brito) was not just trying to defend himself. He chased them and shot them. … He was trying to kill them,” Dorante said.
“I leave this in God’s hands. I don’t want anything to do with the guy. I trust God,” he added.
This is the first murder in McCook since 2006, police said.
Ana declined to speculate on what took place that night.
“I wasn’t present. I don’t know what happened. But whatever happened, there was no right to take someone’s life. There should be a punishment,” Ana said.
“My husband was a good man,” she added. “There’s no doubt about that.”