Man charged in 2022 road rage shooting that killed 3-year-old boy in West Lawn

A suburban Chicago man faces charges for shooting a 3-year-old boy in a traffic accident in West Lawn in 2022.

Govanni Hernandez, 32, of Berwyn was arrested after DNA evidence linked him to the shooting that killed 3-year-old Mateo Zastro on Sept. 30, 2022. Mateo was in the back seat of his mother’s SUV when he was shot, Criminal Investigation Chief Antoinette Ursitti said Thursday.

“We know that this will not bring Mateo back, but we hope that it at least offers some closure,” Ursitti said.

The shooting stemmed from a road rage incident between Hernandez and Mateo’s mother, Veronica Zastro, that began near Cicero Avenue around 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2022. She tried to get away from Hernandez, but he stayed close behind her. Ursitti said there was no relationship between the two.

In an interview with the Sun-Times, Zastro said she was on her way home when a red car suddenly cut her off.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file photo

She was just blocks from her home when the shooting started in the 4400 block of West Marquette Road.

According to police radio transmissions, Zastro drove away from the scene of the shooting before flagging down police officers for help, which show that an officer quickly identified the shooting as a case of road rage.

Ursitti said they believed she was the intended target, but Mateo, who was in the car with his three siblings, was hit in the head. He died about eight hours later at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

“How did they come up with this idea, knowing they could see children and girls in the front seat?” Zastro told the Sun-Times. “What made them go up and down the block and look?”

According to a police report, ShotSpotter recorded at least ten shots.

Ursitti said officers found the vehicle involved in the shooting on Oct. 27, 2022, and were able to collect DNA evidence. Almost a year later, in August 2023, the Combined DNA Index System returned a hit.

Hernandez was taken into custody Tuesday in a suburb of Berwyn near his home, Ursitti said.

Based on the DNA results in combination with witness statements as well as digital and physical evidence, the charges were admitted on Thursday, Ursitti said.

Hernandez was charged with one count each of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and murder with a high probability of death or danger of injury.

“We have never forgotten Mateo and his family,” Ursitti said. “I want to commend the Area One investigators … and the work they did to apprehend this violent offender who cowardly continued to live his life for two years while Mateo’s family lived with the trauma of his loss in that shooting.”

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file photo