Chicago — A man with no prior criminal record was sentenced to eight years in prison this week for shooting at an off-duty DePaul University security guard in downtown Chicago in July 2020.
Armando Munoz Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle before Judge Timothy Joyce on Wednesday. Seven other felonies, including three counts of attempted murder, were dropped by prosecutors.
When Munoz, now 22, appeared for his initial bond hearing a couple of days after the shooting, Judge John Lyke called the case a “head-scratcher,” given that Munoz had “no background whatsoever.”
The victim, 62, told police he was on his way to work at DePaul’s Loop campus when he noticed a group of people riding Divvy bikes in the parking lot where he usually parks. The guard drove around the block, suspicious of the group. He then heard four or five gunshots and saw flashes of light in the parking lot.
He sped to the Roosevelt CTA station, where he asked a Chicago police officer for help. He was not injured, but his car was struck by bullets, officials said.
Officers rounded up the Divvy bikers and began to impound a car that belonged to a woman the bicyclists were talking to. Faced with the potential loss of her vehicle, the woman started talking, prosecutors told Lyke.
“I didn’t do anything,” the woman allegedly said while nodding toward Munoz. “He did.”
According to prosecutors, the woman explained that Munoz got into the back of her car after he fired the shots and ordered her to drive away. However, the woman refused and told him to leave.
He allegedly placed his gun in the woman’s purse before walking away. According to police, they discovered a loaded handgun with an extended magazine in the woman’s purse and six shell casings that matched unused rounds in the gun.
Munoz bailed out of jail shortly after his bail hearing and waited for trial at home in Joliet. Because he was not in jail or on electronic monitoring, he only accrued three days of credit toward his prison sentence. His parole date is not set, but he will likely be released in four years, minus three days, after his sentence is halved for good behavior.
You can support CWBChicago’s start-to-finish tracking of court cases by becoming a subscriber.