CHICAGO (WLS) — Seven men accused in a downtown crash-and-grab burglary that led to a deadly crash were in court Saturday.
Early Thursday morning, burglars were filmed ramming a truck into a Louis Vuitton store on the Mag Mile. Chicago police reported that the suspects crashed their vehicle as they escaped, colliding with a car driven by 40-year-old Mark Arceta from Skokie, who unfortunately did not survive.
All seven men are now charged in both crimes, officials said.
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Family members told ABC7 that Arceta was the innocent bystander who was killed in the crash with an alleged getaway vehicle.
The victim was an expectant father, whose son was born Friday just a day after his death, family members said.
The incident occurred at about 4:53 a.m. Thursday in the 100-block of East Walton Street along the Magnificent Mile downtown Chicago, police said.
Footage captured by a cellphone showed thieves using a pickup truck to break into the Louis Vuitton store. Several individuals were seen hurriedly entering and exiting the store with stolen goods. According to the police, the thieves then fled in multiple vehicles at high speed.
Chicago police said one of the fleeing SUVs ended up crashing into another driver at Michigan and Ohio, upending the vehicle and killing the driver.
Family member told ABC7 that Arceta was eager to meet his son.
“Mom, it’s a boy… when he showed me the ultrasound,” the victim’s mother Alejandra Arceta said.
However, about 24 hours before Arceta’s pregnant wife was scheduled to have labor induced, tragedy struck in the heart of the Mag Mile.
“I said, ‘So unfair. Life is so unfair,'” Alejandra Arceta said.
Mark Arceta succumbed to his injuries at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He was en route to work on the hospital campus in the field of animal science research and this was supposed to be his last shift before starting a four-week paternity leave.
Arceta’s family says Friday afternoon his son Dylan was born healthy.
Police arrested seven of the alleged thieves, including five who they say were in the vehicle that crashed into Mark Arceta’s car.
The seven suspects all appeared in court Saturday.
Watch ABC7 Eyewitness News at 5 p.m. wherever you stream for a full report on the latest developments from the court hearings.
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