Chicago — Surveillance video captured the cold-blooded, execution-style murders of three people outside a Chicago bar over the weekend, and officials say the killer is a man who was paroled less than three months ago for a 2009 home invasion that left two people dead. He faced ten counts of murder in the home invasion case, but prosecutors dropped those charges in a plea deal.
The weekend shooting video, provided to CWBChicago by a source, shows a group arguing near Vera Lounge at the corner of Central Avenue and School Street around 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
A man is seen walking backward, pulling a gun, and shooting another man from close range. The victim drops to the ground.
The gunman takes a few more steps backward, then fires his gun again toward a man further away who appears to be pleading with him. The second victim grabs his head, takes a few steps backward, and falls to the ground over the curb
At that point, the gunman walks quickly toward the two injured men.
Without even stopping, he shoots and kills a woman who was tending to the first victim on the pavement. He continues to the second victim and shoots him directly in the head.
The shooter sprints toward a waiting car, shoots another person at point-blank range, doubles back, and shoots the person again. He then climbs into the vehicle’s passenger seat, and the SUV drives away.
On Tuesday night, Chicago police said Samuel Parsons-Salas, 32, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and kidnapping. He is due in bond court on Wednesday.
The shooting left three people dead: a 24-year-old woman, a 26-year-old man, and a 59-year-old man, police said. Another 24-year-old woman remains hospitalized and gravely wounded.
Parsons-Salas was charged in 2014 with two counts of first-degree murder and other charges in connection with a 2009 home invasion that left two men dead in Albany Park.
He reached a plea deal with prosecutors in 2018 that resulted in his pleading guilty to two counts of home invasion in exchange for an eight-year sentence from Judge Mauricio Arujo, according to Cook County court records. However, appellate court records show the sentence was given by Judge William Gamboney.
Prosecutors dropped 30 other felony charges in their deal with Parsons-Salas, including ten counts of murder.
Parsons-Salas was released from prison on September 23, 2022, and he remains on parole. He previously went to prison twice for robberies, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.