On Wednesday, prosecutors said a four-time felon shot a man and fired at least two other people during a series of robberies on the Far North Side earlier this month. Yet, even though one of the incidents was allegedly captured on video, they did not charge Marshal Delvalle with attempted murder, aggravated assault, discharging a firearm, or even being a felon in possession of a firearm. But they did charge him with robbery.
Delvalle, 33, is accused of robbing four people in two incidents that police this month said was part of a pattern that involved nine similar cases in the area.
At 8:55 a.m. on Friday, October 2, an offender wielded a baseball bat as he tried to rob a 49-year-old man outside the victim’s home on the 7000 block of North Rockwell. When the men began struggling, the victim’s wife appeared, and Delvalle got out of a nearby tan Mercury Marquis with a gun, Assistant State’s Attorney Jocelyn Schieve said.
Delvalle allegedly pointed the gun at the woman and demanded her purse. He then shot at the husband as the man ran from the scene and fired on a witness who stepped out to see what was going on, Schieve said. The witness was shot in the foot.
Then, around 2:45 a.m. on Sunday, October 4, a 32-year-old Lyft driver rolled up behind an unoccupied tan Mercury Marquis in the 2700 block of West Rosemont. Suddenly, Delvalle and another man approached the victim’s car and demanded the driver’s money and phone at gunpoint, Schieve said.
After getting the items, Delvalle fired gunshots into the hood of the victim’s vehicle, and the offenders drove away in the Mercury, according to Schieve.
The Lyft driver had a surveillance camera system in his car that recorded images of the victim raising his hands and giving Delvalle his property, Schieve said. It also allegedly recorded Delvalle firing a gun into the man’s car.
Police later learned that the Lyft driver’s credit cards were used at a convenience store in Park City, a small town in the Far North Suburbs where Delvalle lives. Park City cops recognized Delvalle from the store’s surveillance video, which allowed Chicago cops to assemble photo line-ups for the various victims to review.
Schieve said at least three victims picked Delvalle out of the photo arrays and said at least two of the victims previously said the gunman had teardrop tattoos near his eyes.
In addition, Delvalle’s girlfriend told police that she was asleep in the back seat of the tan Mercury Marquis while the Lyft driver was being robbed, Schieve said, but the gunfire woke her up. The woman allegedly told investigators that she heard Delvalle and the unknown second offender talking about robbing people earlier in the day.
On Wednesday, October 7, Chicago cops saw a tan Mercury Marquis that looked like the one used in a series of recent robberies traveling near the intersection of Devon and Western. Police pulled the car over and tried to block it in, but the driver reversed into a squad car, drove toward two officers who were out of their car, and struck two more CPD units before getting away, Schieve said. The officers jumped out of the way to avoid being struck, but one of them identified Delvalle as the driver in a photo line-up, according to Schieve.
At that point, prosecutors secured an arrest warrant, and Delvalle was taken into custody on Tuesday. He’s charged with four counts of aggravated armed robbery with a firearm, aggravated fleeing, and aggravated battery of a police officer.
In his defense, Assistant Public Defender Carolyn Howard said, “teardrops are very common amongst youth,” as she suggested witnesses might be lying about what happened. “People lie and make false statements all the time,” Howard said.
But Judge Susana Ortiz countered that there were multiple positive identifications of Delvalle and video evidence. Ortiz further noted for the record that prosecutors didn’t ask her to hold Delvalle without bail. So, Ortiz set bail at $2 million on the robbery cases. She also ordered him held in lieu of $200,000 on charges stemming from the traffic stop incident.
Delvalle now needs to post $220,000 to get out of jail before trial.
He recently completed a five-year sentence for aggravated fleeing and burglary in Lake County. He has previous convictions for possessing a stolen motor vehicle, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and disorderly conduct.
