But they didn't figure on running into Ray Souchet, a 53-year-old Streets and Sanitation worker who tailed their car through streets and alleys while staying on the phone with police.



Souchet said he was doing a routine alley check around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when he saw one of the robbers run toward him with a black mask covering part of his face and wearing latex gloves.



"He saw me and his eyes opened up," Souchet said. "We were looking eye to eye and he looked freaked out that we had stumbled onto each other."



Police say the man with the mask and another robber had just stormed into a home in the Avondale neighborhood, duct-taping the family while looking for drugs and a gun. They found neither, and left with just a gold jewelry box, a cell phone, credit cards and the mother's state ID, according to police and prosecutors.



After stashing them in a waiting car, one of the gunmen returned to the home to kill the family. He shot and killed Andre Vasquez, 15 and wounded his mother Krystal Hethcoat, 33, in the head. But he couldn't find Vasquez's 14-year-old sister, who had managed to escape, prosecutors said in court today.



Outside, Souchet had seen one of the masked robbers in the alley in the 3400 block of North Lawndale Avenue and called 911, thinking he was witnessing a burglary. Souchet said he circled back and saw the robber again, this time with another man who both jumped into a waiting car.



Souchet said he gave police a play-by-play as he tailed the getaway car through traffic clogged by parents dropping their children off at a nearby grammar school. He told dispatchers where the car was going, what it looked like, its license plate number.



Souchet circled the block and saw the car again parked in the alley behind the same home. He said he then saw two men – including the one he'd seen previously – come out of the house and jump in the car, which he again followed while giving a 911 dispatcher descriptions and a license plate number.



Police say they arrested the suspects, including the driver of the car, based on the car's description and license plate. Authorities say they recovered 9mm and .25-caliber handguns and the stolen items.



Sean Williams, 33, Davonta Williams, 17 and Jennifer M. Vojinovic, 27, were each charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery, home invasion and unlawful restraint, police said. All three were denied bail.



During a court hearing, prosecutors said the three believed there were narcotics and a gun in the home. Vojinovic stayed in the car while the other two waited in the foyer of the two-flat for someone to open the door, according to prosecutors.



When Andre's 14-year-old sister left to go to school, Sean and Davonta Williams forced their way in, ordered all three family members to the ground at gunpoint and duct-taped their hands and feet together, Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini said.



The two ransacked the home and demanded cash from the victims, then left briefly to put some stolen items in the car.



Sean Williams returned to the home and shot Andre and his mother in the head because he "believed that the victims would be able to identify them," Santini said. The girl had managed to free herself and run for help.



Santini said all three suspects have confessed.



"We are all trying to make it through this. It is all a big nightmare," said Tina Quinones, an aunt of Vasquez and his sister told the Tribune. "I can't believe this even happened, and in their own home. We're always telling them to stay out of the streets, and this happens at home."



A memorial fund has been set up at PNC Bank to pay for Andre's funeral expenses and to support Hethcoat and her surviving daughter, she said.



Souchet, who has worked for Streets and Sanitation for 30 years, said he was just glad his actions helped get the suspects off the streets.



"If it was my family, I would want somebody to step up and do something too," Souchet said. "If we all stick together as one, the criminals can't intimidate us."