CHICAGO – A 22-year-old south suburban soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, his family said.

Army Pfc. Jacob Michael Lowell, of New Lenox, died Saturday, his family said in a statement issued Monday by Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn’s office. The Department of Defense had not yet announced the death Monday night.

Lowell had been assigned to the 173rd Airborne in Vicenza, Italy. His family said he was serving his first overseas tour and had been in Afghanistan for two weeks.

Lowell was a 2003 graduate of Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox where he played football.

His family said he enlisted in the Army in October 2005 because he wanted to serve his country.

“He was a great son. We are very proud of him,” his father, Raymond Lowell, said in a statement. “He did what he wanted to. He gave 100 percent to anything he did.”

Funeral arrangements were pending, his family said.