It was supposed to be just another Sunday. Just another drive back from the soccer field. Instead, the westbound Eisenhower Expressway near 25th Street became a crash scene that shut down all lanes for hours and took the life of a child barely old enough to have a double-digit age. What happened on I-290 that morning is the kind of story that makes a whole city stop scrolling.
Illinois State Police troopers were dispatched to the scene just after 11 a.m. Sunday, responding to a two-vehicle collision on the westbound I-290 near 25th Street, in the area bridging Bellwood, Broadview, and Maywood on Chicago’s western edge. At least one vehicle overturned in the collision. By the time troopers arrived, the worst had already happened.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene. Five others were transported to area hospitals with injuries. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the deceased as Iker Paredes, an 11-year-old boy from Chicago. He had been in one of those vehicles, coming back from soccer practice with his family when the crash happened. That detail alone is enough to gut anyone who reads it.
All westbound lanes of I-290 were completely closed for several hours following the collision. Investigators redirected traffic to 17th Avenue while crash reconstruction teams worked methodically across the expressway, documenting every detail of what took place. The investigation remains ongoing, and no charges or fault determinations have been publicly announced.
The human damage from that single crash extends far beyond the immediate injuries. Iker’s family — known to many in Chicago as the Tamale Guy Family — is now navigating funeral planning, cremation costs, mounting medical bills for injured relatives, and the kind of immediate financial pressure that crashes down on a household when tragedy strikes without warning. The community that knows them didn’t hesitate to respond.
A GoFundMe campaign launched in Iker’s honor, titled “Honoring Iker — Support The Tamale Guy Family,” quickly began drawing support from people across the city. The fundraiser describes Iker as a beloved 4th grader at Talcott Fine Arts Academy and a standout player for Chicago City Soccer Club — a kid with a future, a routine, and a family that loved him. Contributors are asked to help cover every expense the family is now facing as they try to grieve and survive at the same time.
Five survivors are still recovering from that Sunday morning. An investigation is still being pieced together on what exactly caused two vehicles to collide and roll on the Eisenhower. And a Chicago family is planning to say goodbye to a boy who was eleven years old and just coming home from soccer. The expressway has since reopened. Life on I-290 has moved on. For the Paredes family, nothing moves on quite yet.
