Large left inset: Mark Arceta and his girlfriend Roanne Masangkay (GoFundMe). Right insets, clockwise from top left: Harvey Fisher, Anthony Hemphill, Keith Perkins, and Alton Jackson (Cook County Sheriff’s Office).
A Chicago father-to-be who was on the way to work his usual shift at a local hospital just one day before he was set to take paternity leave was killed in a deadly car crash by a group of suspects fleeing the scene of a Louis Vuitton “smash and grab,” officials say.
His girlfriend gave birth to a baby boy the following day.
“They did not want to tell me because I’m pregnant,” said Roanne Masangkay, girlfriend of 40-year-old Mark Arceta, in an interview with Fox News. “They did not want me to worry. So, I just grabbed the phone, and then I couldn’t believe it.”
Police and prosecutors say Arceta, who is from Skokie, was driving his normal route to work when members of a “theft crew” involved in a robbery at a Louis Vuitton store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago crashed into Arceta’s Honda CRV.
The suspects were going nearly 80 mph at the time of the crash, with several of them being hospitalized with injuries afterward. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office identified them in a press release as Darius Bowdry, 30, Harvey Fisher, 26, Alton Jackson, 37, Kellen McMiller, 35, Dejuan Wingard, 30, Anthony Hemphill, 22, and Keith Perkins, 19.
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Four of the seven alleged robbers appeared in court last week while the other three remained hospitalized. The four defendants who appeared were Fisher, Jackson, Hemphill, and Perkins; they were all ordered to remain detained, per the state’s attorney’s office.
“This case is a heartbreaking example of the threat that these organized retail theft operations pose to the entire community,” said State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke in a statement Saturday.
“Not only is the economic vitality of our city compromised by these crimes, but these offenders pose a physical danger to every one of us who live and work here,” Burke charged. “We will not tolerate it, and we will continue to seek detention and use all of our prosecutorial tools to bring accountability and appropriate charges to those who commit these brazen attacks.”
Arceta’s death happened Thursday at approximately 4:50 a.m., according to prosecutors. At least a dozen members of the theft crew were caught on security cameras pulling up to the Louis Vuitton Chicago Michigan Avenue store in six stolen vehicles, the state’s attorney’s office reports.
“Multiple videos show a pickup truck backing up and ramming the store’s windows, gaining entry,” the office said. “The theft crew then loaded a large amount of merchandise — valued at nearly $700,000 — into the stolen vehicles and fled.”
One of the fleeing vehicles was described as a black Kia allegedly driven by Wingard, with several other suspects riding with him, prosecutors say. Wingard was caught on camera “accelerating through multiple red lights” before the Kia he was driving slammed into Arceta’s CRV as he was traveling through an intersection on Ohio Street on a green light.
“Arceta was traveling to work for his last shift before going on paternity leave when he was killed, and his wife gave birth to a son shortly after the crash,” prosecutors said.
A second vehicle that was allegedly used in the smash and grab, an Infiniti, was spotted fleeing from police down DuSable Lake Shore Drive before it jumped over a concrete barrier and blew out its tires near Millennium Park, prosecutors say. Suspects Hemphill and Perkins allegedly attempted to run away after the crash, but both were caught by police following a foot chase. Two others who were allegedly with them managed to escape.
A GoFundMe for Arceta’s family describes him as a “Filipino/American Citizen” who was “just a day away from becoming a dad for the second time,” per the description.
“I want my son to know his dad was so loved,” Masangkay told Fox. “He gave me everything I wanted. He was selfless, generous, and never turned his back on people who needed help.”
The suspects have all been charged with first-degree murder, burglary, and retail theft in the smash and grab. The hospitalized defendants will appear in court once discharged.
