CHICAGO (CBS) — In July 2023, Manny Alvarez’s mother and sister were shot and killed, allegedly by his father.
Manny, now 20, usually is not comfortable with praise. But he now has something to be proud of—as he helped pass an Illinois state law that both honors his mom and helps future survivors of domestic violence.
“My life sort of ended there in terms of—that was it,” Alvarez said. “That’s kind of that chapter of my life, and I’ll never have a dad I can call again, I’ll never have a sister I can call again, and I’ll never have a mom I can call again.”
Manny Alvarez was just 18 when his dad picked up a gun and shot his sister, Daniela, and his mother, Karina Gonzalez, to death in their Little Village neighborhood apartment. Manny was shot too, but survived.
He said he did not think his father was capable of doing such a thing.
“I mean, it’s something that we knew of, and in terms of all the domestic violence, it was very prevalent,” Manny Alvarez said, “but you know, you never really think someone’s going to go to that measure of actually hurting someone, let alone killing them, and basically ending everyone’s life.”
The deadly shooting happened during a quarrel, and two weeks after Manny’s mom was granted an order of protection against her husband, Jose Alvarez. But her husband had not been served.
“It was the worst two weeks ever,” Manny said, “because, you know, we’re just kind of sitting there going, ‘OK, like he’s not supposed to be here.”
Manny, who calls his mom the hardest working person he’s ever known, went to live with relatives. At the same time, advocates were crafting a bill requiring that police remove all guns from people with domestic violence orders of protection against them.
The advocate asked Manny if they could name the legislation after his mom. Eventually, he said yes, and the fight to pass Karina’s Bill ramped up.
The bill passed the Illinois General Assembly on Tuesday, Jan. 7, and Manny helped with the effort. He met with lawmakers and appeared at news conferences.
It was Manny’s way of honoring his mother.
“I can’t give her a birthday gift. I can’t give her a Christmas gift anymore,” Manny said. “But I kind of see it as a way to give back to her for all that she did for me.”
Amanda Pyron, executive director of the anti-domestic violence organization The Network, said Manny’s advocacy for getting the bill passed was “critical.”
But Pyron said their work isn’t over—even after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signs the bill into law.
“We absolutely will monitor accountability for survivors who go into a court and are granted an order of protection with this remedy, and don’t receive it,” Pyron said.
As for Manny, he does not like to call himself brave. But he does want to keep helping domestic violence survivors—any way he can.
“I’m all ears, and that’s kind of my calling, I guess,” he said. “If anyone comes up to me with that situation, it’s, OK, what can we do? You know, who can I put them in contact with?”
It is not clear when Gov. Pritzker plans to sign Karina’s Bill into law. But when it happens, Manny said he would like to be there.
Dana Kozlov
Dana Kozlov is an Emmy Award-winning political investigative reporter for CBS2 Chicago. Prior to joining the station in 2003, she worked at WGN, CNN Chicago and WEEK-TV in Peoria, where she began her journalism career in 1992.
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