A 22-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with a 2022 killing in which prosecutors say the victim was drawn into a deadly trap under the guise of a Facebook gun deal.
Ener Rodriguez was ordered detained by Cook County Judge James Murphy III. Rodriguez is the third person charged in the August 1, 2022, murder of Irving Ibarez, 18, in the 2100 block of North Natchez Avenue in the Galewood neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side.
According to Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Rauch, Daniel Barbosa — who was 16 at the time and already on pretrial release for two juvenile gun cases — used Facebook to arrange a $400 gun sale with Ibarez, even promising to throw in free bullets. Barbosa told Ibarez to meet him at the intersection of Natchez and Dickens at 7 p.m. to complete the deal.
It was all a setup, Rauch alleged. The plan was for Barbosa, Rodriguez, and a third man, then-18-year-old Alexsandro Hernandez, to rob Ibarez at the meeting spot. Hernandez was on bail for an adult gun case at the time.
Surveillance video allegedly showed Barbosa climbing into the front passenger seat of Ibarez’s car at the meeting spot. About four minutes later, a white Nissan Murano with obscured license plates pulled up alongside them. Rauch said Rodriguez was driving the Murano.
Hernandez then stepped out of the Murano’s passenger seat and approached Ibarez’s door with a gun in hand, Rauch said. Ibarez spotted Hernandez and the weapon and threw his car into reverse. As he did, Barbosa allegedly shot him once in the chest from the passenger seat, killing him.
Barbosa and Hernandez fled back to the Murano, and Rodriguez drove away, according to Rauch.
Chicago police detectives pieced together the group’s movements in the lead-up to the shooting using a trail of surveillance footage. About 25 minutes before the shooting, the Murano was recorded pulling into an AutoZone where Hernandez had previously worked. Rauch said Hernandez went inside and bought masks and gloves, wearing the same clothes he wore at the shooting scene. About ten minutes later, another camera allegedly recorded Barbosa stepping out of the Murano to obscure its license plates.
Hernandez later admitted to investigators that he had “multiple guns” inside the Murano and pointed one at Ibarez’s car during the botched robbery, Rauch said. Hernandez later dumped the weapon in the lake, according to prosecutors.
Rodriguez was first arrested in connection with the murder on September 7, 2022, Rauch said. When officers attempted to pull him over in the Murano, he sped off, crashed, and was taken into custody. He was charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding, ultimately pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, but was not charged with the murder until now.
Detectives seized and searched a phone Rodriguez had on him at the time of that arrest. Rauch said location data from the device placed him at the scene of the murder and at other key locations connected to the case.
