CHICAGO – For the second night in a row, Mercedes Gonzalez stood on a Near Southwest Side street corner clutching a set of red rosary beads and repeated a Hail Mary.
“Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros, pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte. Amen.”
Around her, a crowd of some 30 people stood in silence. Some bowed their heads. Others closed their eyes. At their feet was an array of candles and flowers. And behind the makeshift memorial, balloons wrapped around a light pole that carried the words, in white lettering, “R.I.P Pepe.”…