CHICAGO HOMICIDE 18 YEAR OLD GIRL

POSTED: 5:11 pm CST January 19, 2007
UPDATED: 2:03 pm CST January 20, 2007

There are a lot of questions surrounding the mysterious homicide of 18-year-old Lupita Hernandez, who was passionate about poetry and songwriting, and her family said she had high aspirations as an honor student at Jane Adams High School.

A man walking in the 1700 block of North Tripp Thursday saw the victim on the stoop of a home. When she didn't respond and he couldn't revive her, he called 911.
By then, though, it was too late.

A neighbor saw the victim earlier in the day.

"There were a few guys hanging right there and she was crossing the street going toward them," she remembered.
Police said one of those men was an ex-boyfriend.
http://www.nbc5.com/news/10796561/detail.html

The area is ripe with violence, police said. Days earlier, a man was shot in the chest as he refused to tell an approaching car his gang affiliation.
The family tells NBC 5 that Hernandez had gone to court to testify on behalf of that ex-boyfriend, and then later in the day went to meet him when she was shot.
The state's attorney office can't confirm if indeed she was a witness.