On Halloween night, a quiet Chicago neighborhood became the scene of a senseless attack that has left a 19-year-old woman, Vicky Murillo, blind in one eye. What should have been an evening of harmless fun turned into a nightmare when a group of alleged delinquents targeted Murillo and her friend, driving by with a high-powered paintball gun, leaving Murillo in the hospital and her family demanding justice.
Murillo and her friend were walking through the Clearing West neighborhood when they noticed a strange car tailing them. As they tried to ignore it and continue on, the vehicle made a U-turn and approached them once more. According to Murillo’s family, the car’s occupants whipped out their phones, filming as they launched a sudden and unprovoked barrage of paintballs at the young women. The force of the shots left both women on the ground, shaken and in pain.
“They were both on the floor, crying and screaming, their hot chocolate next to them on the floor,” Murillo’s brother Adrean recalled, describing the disturbing aftermath. The attack left Murillo and her friend bleeding and bruised on the street until paramedics arrived and rushed them to the hospital. But the damage was already done: one of the paintballs struck Murillo directly in the eye, rupturing her eye globe and leaving doctors doubtful that her vision could ever be restored.
Murillo was immediately taken into emergency surgery, but the prognosis remains grim. Doctors warn that if she regains any sight at all, it will likely be severely impaired. “It’s very unlikely, and if there’s any vision restored to that eye, it’s going to be extremely blurry,” Adrean shared.
Murillo’s family is heartbroken and outraged. To them, this wasn’t a mere prank gone wrong—it was a deliberate act of violence. Adrean believes the attackers went out that night with malicious intent, targeting vulnerable people for their own twisted enjoyment. “It was malicious. They knew what they were doing,” he said. “They went out that day specifically for that reason.”
The Murillo family isn’t alone in facing the consequences of this Halloween mayhem. Neighbors have come forward, revealing that they too were shot at by paintballs in a series of attacks that night across various Chicago neighborhoods. Video footage from the incident shows the perpetrators hanging out of car windows, firing high-pressure paintball rounds at unsuspecting pedestrians. In one video, a person waiting at a bus stop is struck repeatedly, attempting to dodge the relentless barrage.
For the Murillos, this is more than just a case of teenage mischief—it’s an attack with life-altering consequences. Murillo’s brother has been in close contact with detectives, working tirelessly to identify and apprehend those responsible. They are hoping for serious charges, recognizing that anything less than a harsh sentence would feel like an insult to the family. “We want it charged as high as we can get it, because if not, it’s going to be a slap on the wrist,” Adrean said, frustrated by the lack of accountability for these violent acts.
This attack is yet another reminder of the rise in violent crime that continues to plague cities like Chicago. What used to be safe, tight-knit neighborhoods are increasingly under siege by reckless individuals with little regard for others. The Murillos and their community are demanding that these suspects face real consequences for their actions—before someone else suffers similar or worse injuries.
As Murillo begins a long road of surgeries and recovery, her family is calling for justice, hoping their story serves as a wake-up call.
