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| Bryan Santos throws up gang signs while posing on a Chicago police vehicle. | Facebook |
Sentences have been handed down in two Uptown shooting cases from last year:
An 18-year-old man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for shooting a fellow Truman College student near the school’s campus last March.
Bryan Santos pleaded guilty Wednesday to one Class X felony count of aggravated battery by firearm discharge. Prosecutors dropped four attempted murder counts and one other felony in the plea deal. Judge Catherine Haberkorn approved the agreement and gave Santos credit for 329 days time served while awaiting trial. He must serve 85% of his sentence.
Santos was found hiding under a porch near the shooting scene on the 4500 block of North Magnolia shortly after he shot a 21-year-old rival gang member at 12:10 p.m. on March 8, 2018.
Prosecutors said Santos approached the victim on the street with his face covered by a mask and hoodie. He initially pistol-whipped the victim, but when the man fought back with brass knuckles, Santos opened fire, prosecutors said.
Santos and the victim were both studying in a Truman program that helps young adults secure their high school diplomas. A police source said the victim and Santos belong to rival predominantly-Hispanic gangs from a different part of the city.
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| Trevon Smith pleaded guilty to firing shots outside the Wilson CTA station. | CPD; File |
Meanwhile, a 22-year-old man has reached a plea deal after being charged with shooting a gun outside the Wilson Red Line station at 10 a.m. on Jan. 26, 2018.
Trevon Smith pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle and being a gang member in possession of a firearm. Judge Catherine Haberkorn sentenced him to two consecutive terms of 4 years, 10 months. Smith was given 272 days credit for time served and was fined $639.
Smith fired several shots outside the bustling CTA station, shattering a motorist’s rear window as she turned into a Truman College parking garage down the block, police said at the time. Witnesses reported that two other men were with Smith when he began firing shots. Those men were never charged.
Patrol officers heard the shots ring out and a probationary police officer suffered abrasions and cuts to his knees while tackling Smith in an alley behind the 1000 block of West Wilson.
A police evidence technician recovered shell casings from a crosswalk outside the freshly-rehabbed historic entrance to the train station. Officers said two casings were found.
Smith is scheduled to be paroled on March 2, 2022.
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