When federal agents led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a South Shore residential building early yesterday, it understandably raised eyebrows.
So what was that all about? And why was that particular building targeted?
On Tuesday night, Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) claimed on Twitter that the Venezuela-based street gang Tren de Aragua was behind it.
“TdA’s took over the building,” Lopez wrote, adding, “they will not be missed — except by @ChicagosMayor & the Leftinos!”
In fact, CWBChicago has learned the building raided by the feds was the site of a murder where a migrant was shot dead while pleading for his life, allegedly by a Tren de Aragua gang member. A man charged with the murder last month allegedly told a fellow jail inmate that he disposed of the victim’s body by having it encased in concrete at a construction site.
Social media videos showed dozens of agents raiding the five-story apartment building at 75th Street and South South Shore Drive during Tuesday’s nighttime raid. At least 30 people were taken into custody, officials said, without releasing any names or details.
Gregory Bovino, who is leading the heightened immigration activities in Chicago, said the operation targeted TdA gang members. The FBI later confirmed that its agents assisted in the operation.
This summer, there was a much smaller, though more deadly, raid at the same apartment building. The intruders that time were not federal agents.
On the evening of June 22, prosecutors said, 25-year-old Venezuelan migrant Jose Coronado-Meza and two accomplices stormed into an apartment in the complex and confronted 31-year-old Gregori Arias. Arias and three friends, all migrants, were hanging out in the unit after spending the day at the beach.
The intruders tried to drag Arias out of the unit, but he resisted, pulled out his ID card, and insisted he had no problems with them, prosecutors said. One of Coronado-Meza’s accomplices then shot Arias in the chest, knocking him to the floor, according to prosecutors.
As Arias lay bleeding, another accomplice lifted his shirt to reveal a scar and said Arias was responsible for it. Prosecutors said Arias begged for his life and asked the group to call an ambulance.
Instead, Coronado-Meza allegedly walked up, pressed a handgun to the left side of Arias’s head, and executed him.
Moments later, the three men fled as sirens approached. The witnesses also left, with Arias’s body lying face-up on the living room floor near a radiator.
The next morning, one witness said the apartment had been cleaned. Another witness went to the police to report the murder. Based on the witness’ account, investigators secured a warrant for the unit. Evidence technicians used BlueStar technology to detect hidden blood beneath laminate flooring and on a radiator cover. DNA testing linked the samples to Arias’s toothbrush.
On July 6, Coronado-Meza was arrested for allegedly possessing a gun with a drum magazine.
At the time of his arrest, police seized his cell phone and found a video recorded in the apartment the day after police executed the search warrant, prosecutors said. The video allegedly showed several floor panels missing in the exact locations where technicians had removed them to test for blood. It also depicted the same living room furniture and a bedroom with pink walls that the police documented while processing the scene.
While in custody, Coronado-Meza confessed to another inmate, saying he “finished off” Arias because he would not stop crying, prosecutors said. He allegedly told the inmate he had a construction contact who could dispose of bodies, and that Arias had been entombed in concrete.
Witnesses later identified Coronado-Meza as the shooter. Another woman said she saw him outside the building with a suitcase shortly after the killing.
Coronado-Meza is charged with first-degree murder, concealing a homicidal death, two counts of aggravated unlawful restraint, and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon. His local background includes retail theft arrests, a pending misdemeanor cannabis case, and the pending gun charge.
In 2023, Gregori Arias was featured in a Block Club Chicago article about migrants who had established a barber shop in Pritzker Park, next to the Standard Club migrant shelter in the Loop.
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