Prosecutors on Friday charged a man with opening fire on his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend as the alleged victim sat in a car with a 3-year-old girl in Uptown in October 2019. No one was injured in the incident, but Fabian Regalado is now facing charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
The shooting unfolded in the 4600 block of North Sheridan Road at 2:16 p.m. on October 4, 2019. Police identified Regalado as the gunman almost immediately, but they could not locate him until this week. Authorities believe he went to Mexico after the shooting, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the 37-year-old victim was sitting in a BMW, waiting for his girlfriend to get off work. The woman’s daughter, who is also Regalado’s child, was in the back seat.
A red pickup truck rolled to a stop next to their car and the man looked over to see Regalado holding the steering wheel with one hand and firing a gun at him with the other, prosecutors said. The man ducked and tried to pull the 3-year-old down with him to keep her from being injured, according to prosecutors. Four bullets went through the victim’s driver’s side window, one hit his door frame and one struck above the driver’s door handle.
Shattered glass struck the man’s face, but neither he nor the girl was seriously injured. He ran into his girlfriend’s workplace and called 911. Prosecutors said he knew Regalado and recognized him as the shooter. The woman watched surveillance video of the shooting and identified the red pickup as a vehicle Regalado drives, prosecutors said.
He has one previous felony conviction. In 2013, he sped away from police when they tried to stop him for holding a pistol out the driver’s side window of his vehicle, prosecutors said. He was arrested after he crashed into seven cars, injuring three people, and eventually served two years for aggravated fleeing, according to prosecutors.
On Friday, Judge John Lyke ordered Regalado held without bail.