As Jose Tellez hung Christmas lights outside his Gage Park home Saturday, his 14-year-old daughter stayed indoors, but was never far away.

       She was close enough that when she suddenly heard screaming outside her home in the 3500 block of West 58th Street about 6:30 p.m., she saw the unthinkable.

       “She looked out the window and observed two (men) approximately 20-30 years of age, (one) wearing a black sweater, and one wearing a gray sweater, beating her father with sticks,” according to a Chicago Police Department report.

       A supplemental report told much the same narrative, but said Tellez had been “putting up Christmas lights when (two men) exited a red sedan and began striking (Tellez) in the face and head with a bat.” Police previously had only said Tellez was struck with “blunt objects.”

       In one line the police report said Tellez “suffered facial and skull fractures,” while another said he suffered “blunt trauma to the face and head.”

       Tellez’s death was ruled a homicide, the result of multiple craniocerebral injuries, the primary cause assault, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

       For friends and family members, like Daisy Castro, who set up a verified GoFundMe page for her relative, the loss is profound and jarring.

       “He was a loving husband, father, brother and son. He leaves behind a wife and three children. At this time we kindly ask for prayers,” she wrote.

       Nearly 400 people had donated more than $17,000 in about 48 hours, far exceeding the goal of $10,000 to be used for funeral expenses.

       And while the police report said authorities had identified and detained a person of interest around the same time Castro launched the GoFundMe two days earlier, a spokesman for the department Tuesday night said there was no one in custody.

       Chicago Tribune’s Rosemary Sobol contributed.

       kdouglas@chicagotribune.com

       Twitter @312BreakingNews

       Police: Gage Park man was hanging Christmas lights when fatally beaten. 14-year-old daughter heard his screams.

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