Chicago police confirm triple fatal South Shore hit-and-run was intentional attack. ‘This is blatant evil,’ relative says.

Donald Huey called his grandmother last week from Los Angeles to tell her he’d found a lead on a new job and he planned to stay in the city permanently.

It seemed like big news at the time, said Jewel Perrian, Huey’s paternal grandmother. But it was nothing compared with the shock she suffered Sunday: A relative phoned her in Florida to tell her Huey had gone back home to the Chicago area and was now dead. The 25-year-old was one of three men killed in South Shore early Sunday when the driver of a silver sedan drove into a group of six men standing in the street outside Jeffery Pub, apparently intentionally, according to Chicago police.

“I just can’t understand how something like this could happen in Chicago. This is blatant evil,” Perrian said when reached by phone Monday.

Perrian said she remains unsure why her grandson chose to leave Los Angeles or when he made it back to Illinois. But that isn’t the question nagging at her most as she makes arrangements to return to the area she called home for most of her life.

“To harm those kids like this, I’m still in shock, it’s still fresh. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what kind of monster could do that — and on purpose,” she said. “Who could just calmly drive into a crowd of people and end their lives?”

Police are trying to answer the same questions as they investigate the attack, which has gained national attention in part because of several videos of the crash circulating online. The crime blog, CWBChicago, ran one of the graphic videos on its website, but other videos from different angles also have surfaced. One, which Perrian referenced, seems it may have been taken by the driver.

“I understand that that video is out there, and it’s pretty horrific,” said Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan during a Monday morning police news conference. “You can look at it. It appears to be intentional just based upon what everybody’s seen.”

Hours after the 5 a.m. attack, authorities located the vehicle they believe was used in the hit-and-run, Deenihan said, adding no arrests have been made.

“You can’t charge a car with a crime, obviously,” he said, explaining the silver sedan with a dented hood and hole in the windshield was found just four blocks away from Jeffery Pub, 7041 S. Jeffery Boulevard.

“We’re actually looking for some help with this one,” Deenihan continued, saying anyone with information should contact police with information.

When asked to discuss the videos and a possible social media post — there has been rampant discussion online referencing a Facebook Live post in which a person was laughing about the crime — Deenihan said: “I’m not going to comment on the social media.”

So far, authorities are not considering the attack a hate crime because they don’t yet know the driver’s motive.

“It’s not being investigated as a hate crime at this time. We don’t have the evidence to support that somebody was trying to harm these individuals because of their race, religion, etc. at this time because we don’t have a suspect in custody and we don’t have any information that somebody stated that,” Deenihan said. “That can change once we get more witnesses and a suspect in. Everything can change based on those statements.”

Detectives have been in touch with employees of Jeffery Pub to try to piece together a timeline of events. Officials said It appears there was an argument inside the pub which spilled out onto the street, in what Deenihan called “an ongoing altercation at that point.”

“Then we can see this individual gets into a car and commits this horrific act,” he said.

Perrian said her “very nice, very kind, very respectful grandson” who “never got into trouble or anything like that,” wasn’t involved in the fight.

“He was just standing around watching it happen. It appeared to me (the driver) sped up to hit them. The guy was parked on the side of the road and then turned his lights on and accelerated. I don’t think Don Don was targeted,” she said, using a nickname for her grandson. “I think (the driver) was just angry about the fight and everything and figured he would do some damage.”

Check back for updates.

Chicago Tribune’s Paige Fry and Adriana Perez contributed.