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Thugs ask Chicago man, 23, what gang he and his brothers are in. He replies, 'We don't gangbang' — and the thugs start shooting. Now victim may lose sight in an eye.
Image source: WLS-TV video screenshot

Thugs ask Chicago man, 23, what gang he and his brothers are in. He replies, 'We don't gangbang' — and the thugs start shooting. Now victim may lose sight in an eye.

A 23-year-old Chicago man was shot in the face and may lose sight in one eye after an encounter with a pair of individuals who asked the victim and his brothers what gang they were in — and the bullets started flying when the victim replied, "We don't gangbang," WLS-TV reported.

What are the details?

Luis Franchi III had just finished fishing on the North Branch of the Chicago River on Wednesday night when they were headed to their car around 10:30 p.m. in the 3100 block of West Carmen Avenue and were approached by a couple of men who asked what gang they were in, the station said.

Franchi's mother, Melissa Torres, told WLS her son replied, "We are here fishing. We don't gangbang. We're not with none of that."

With that, Torres said the pair "pulled out guns, and they just started shooting up the whole car my boys were in" the station said.

She recounted to WLS that her sons ran to a nearby McDonald's on Kedzie and Foster, leaving their shot-up car at the scene.

Image source: WLS-TV video screenshot

An ambulance took Franchi to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, the station said, adding that he's now possibly blind in his left eye and has several gunshot wounds to his face.

"[I'm] hurt, angry, aggravated," his mother told WLS. "Like, why? Why do this to people that are innocent?"

Image source: WLS-TV video screenshot

Indeed, Chicago police told the station Franchi is not known to them and has no criminal record. What's more, his mother added to WLS that he's a plumber's apprentice who loves spending time outside playing baseball and fishing with his brothers.

"You know, they just took that all away from him," Torres added to the station. "Working and everything. We don't know if he's ever going to be able to work ever again."

No arrests have been made, WLS said.

Franchi's mother also told the station the he and his brothers spend a lot of time at the park near where he was shot.

"That's their thing they do in the summer," she noted to WLS. "They go all over to different parks, different lakes. They Google who has the biggest fishes and when they put them in the pond."

Franchi's stepfather, Victor Torres, was also distraught and told the station gang violence is "a daily ordeal, and it's complete nonsense."

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Dave Urbanski

Dave Urbanski

Sr. Editor, News

Dave Urbanski is a senior editor for Blaze News.
@DaveVUrbanski →