The family of a 5-year-old migrant boy who fell ill at an overcrowded Pilsen shelter and died were under the care of a city-funded organization in Little Village as police continue to investigate the boy’s death, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez said Thursday.
“We know that there’s, of course, nothing we can do to bring Jean Carlos back, but [it’s] our commitment to make sure there are no more cases [like his,]” Sigcho-Lopez told the Sun-Times.
Meanwhile, vivid details from police reports shed light on Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero’s final days, with many questions still unanswered.
According to Chicago police, Jean Carlos had a fever about two to three days before his death and complained about pain in his left leg.
On Saturday, his parents gave the boy children’s Tylenol about 7 a.m. and then at 5 p.m. more medicine. A “green pill,” according to police reports, which his mother received from a friend and which she believed was ibuprofen.
Less than 24 hours later as he lay in the shelter surrounded by staffers and his parents, the 5-year-old was dead.
Jean Carlos and his family had been staying at the shelter, 2241 S. Halsted St., a converted warehouse that opened in early October and has since become the most crowded shelter in the city, holding more than 2,000 people, more than half of whom are minors.
The facility is run by Favorite Healthcare Staffing, a Kansas-based contractor the city has awarded close to $100 million to run shelters since September 2022, shortly after the first buses carrying migrants began arriving.
After taking the green pill, his family told officers the boy was doing “just fine” the rest of the night and woke up the next morning asking for food, according to the report.
The family went out for breakfast around 11:10 a.m. Sunday before panhandling later that day. At some point while outside Jean Carlos told his family he wanted to go back “home,” to the shelter, because he wasn’t feeling well.
Jean Carlos threw up an electrolytes drink shortly after his father gave it to him, and when the family returned to the shelter, his family noticed his lips were “purple” and staffers told them it was likely because of the cold, the report said.
While his father went upstairs to file a request for an ambulance, Jean Carlos then complained of stomach pain and said he needed to use the washroom, according to police reports.
Once he and his mom got into the washroom, she noticed his eyes rolling in the back of his head and she began screaming for help, police said. Jean Carlos was placed laying down on a table near the bathroom entrance as staffers began doing CPR.
An ambulance took him to Comer’s Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The cause of Jean Carlos’ death remained unclear and autopsy results were still pending.
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director of Communications Heather Tarczan said they have had no prior contact with the family, did not step in to take custody of Jean Carlos’ sibling and were not investigating.
A day after Jean Carlos’ death, five more people, including four children, were hospitalized after becoming ill at the shelter that has been the subject of repeated complaints about unsanitary conditions.
Four girls, ages 1, 4, 8 and 9, and an 18-year-old woman were taken to hospitals at different times Monday morning with fever and vomiting, Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Langford said. Their conditions weren’t immediately known.
On Wednesday evening, hundreds gathered during a vigil held in the boy’s honor during which many called for more medical resources at the shelter.
During a media briefing Thursday, Sigcho-Lopez called for federal support and raised awareness to humanitarian needs like housing and health due to the ongoing arrival of migrants seeking asylum in the city. He condemned the actions of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and pledged to continue fighting for immigrant rights.
“[I’m] demanding that every level of government and immigrant community like ours works to prevent tragedies like this,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “We need access to more support so that we can provide more shelter, more access to health care [and] basic medication that can be life-saving.”
Contributing: Rosemary Sobol, Michael Loria, Kade Heather, Violet Miller, Tessa Weinberg
