GLENVIEW, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- 15-year-old Elias Valdez is being remembered with a community GoFundMe page that has exceeded its goal in less than 24 hours.
Valdez was found with stab wounds to his chest on Aug 5. in suburban Glenview, according to Glenview police. At around 7:07 p.m., police responded to the 1200 block of Greenwood Road and found the boy lying in a grassy area with a puncture wound in his chest. He was transported to Lutheran General Hospital where he died in surgery.
One of his friends created a GoFundMe fundraiser to help the family pay for funeral expenses and it has raised over $18,000, meeting its goal in about 18 hours.
According to the organizer, Valdez wanted to be a barber and had just finished his freshman year of high school.
"All his friends knew him to be genuine and down to earth, so his death is very saddening," the organizer wrote.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office rules the incident a homicide, the first one in Glenview since 2004.
The Glenview Police Department are investigating the incident.