Federal officials say they have arrested two Venezuelan migrants in connection with the December 2 mass shooting that left three dead and five injured at a house party in Gage Park.
In a newly released statement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Ricardo Granadillo Padilla, 25, was arrested by ICE agents in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Edward Martinez Cermeno, 24, was arrested by the agency in Schaumburg on January 26.
The press release refers to both men as “suspected shooters” and says officials “believe the shooting was perpetrated by members of the Tren de Aragua gang.” ICE announced Granadillo Padilla’s arrest in February, but did not reveal which shooting they believed he took part in.
At about 2:10 p.m. on December 2, police responded to a shooting in the 3500 block of West 59th Street. They found eight people shot, four men and four women, all between the ages of 20 and 35. Officials said three of the men were killed: Jon Carlos Blanquissett, 28, Hector Sajo, 26, and Osmer Angel Ferrer Oria, 32.
Witnesses confirmed to police that a birthday party was underway and a famous DJ from Venezuela was performing.
Cook County Crime Stoppers quickly offered a $10,000 reward for information about the case, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives announced its own $10,000 reward a couple of weeks later.
On Wednesday, ICE said agents seized a pistol, ammunition and “other evidentiary items” when they arrested Granadillo Padilla in North Carolina. Agents seized fraudulent documents, narcotics, multiple firearms, and high-capacity ammunition magazines from his Chicago home, the agency said.
Martinez Cermeno was initially released after agents arrested him in Schaumburg on January 26. But agents re-arrested him for “being illegally present in the United States,” the press release said.
According to ICE, both men crossed the border into the U.S. near El Paso.
Agents have arrested “sixteen additional TdA members and associates of the shooters in the Chicago area and Raleigh, North Carolina” on immigration charges, according to the ICE statement.
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