CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A memorial service was held Saturday for Luis Alberto Aguilar Peres, who came to Chicago from Venezuela and was found dead at a now-shuttered school building on the South Side, which is being used as a temporary shelter for migrants.
Pastor Kenneth Phelps and Yolanda Cruz led the bilingual service at Concord Missionary Baptist Church, located at 6319 S. Kimbark Ave, which celebrated the life of the 26-year-old Peres. Community members and some of Peres’ family, including his sister, who flew in from Utah, attended the service.
“I’ve only been in the United States for a month,” she said. “He was the one who helped me arrive to the United States from Venezuela.”
It was a heartfelt tribute to a man who was not a Chicagoan for long — but who considered this city his home.
“I had asked him if he wanted to come to Utah and live with me, but he already loved the city of Chicago,” Peres’ sister said.
Peres’ passing was the first publicly known death at a city-owned facility since large numbers of immigrants began arriving in Chicago in August 2022. In that time, Chicago has taken in nearly 10,000 migrants.
Early on June 2, Chicago police officers responded to a call of a man who was “foaming at the mouth and unresponsive” at the former Wadsworth Elementary School building, according to a Chicago police alert obtained by the Sun-Times. The man, later identified as Peres, was declared dead at the scene.
Angel Pacheco, who got to know Peres when the two arrived at the temporary shelter, said he wasn’t sure what caused his friend’s death but added that Peres talked about having heart issues.
“He was a very good person,” Pacheco said.
Peres had a job at a Jewel-Osco not far from the shelter.
“The time that he spent here at the refuge, and while he was here by himself, he always spoke very kindly about everyone and all of his friends,” said his sister.
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
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