A member of Venezuela’s notoriously violent Tren de Aragua gang, already AWOL from a pending felony case, shot and killed a man at a New City party in June for no apparent reason other than not recognizing him as a fellow gang member, prosecutors say. Luis Suarez-Vasquez, 18, is the 10th person accused of killing or attempting to kill someone in Chicago this year while awaiting trial on a felony case. Three of those 10 defendants, prosecutors say, are members of Tren de Aragua.
At about 5:15 a.m. on June 14, 18-year-old Jaiker Rodriguez-Vera, a 19-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy went to a party hosted in the 1700 block of West Garfield Boulevard, Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Rusch said during a detention hearing Friday.
When they arrived, Rodriguez-Vera pointed out Suarez-Vasquez to the woman and identified him as “Nando,” someone he knew from Wells Community Academy High School. Suarez-Vasquez approached the group with a gun protruding from his waistband, identified himself as a member of Tren de Aragua, and checked Rodriguez-Vera and the woman for weapons, Rusch said. Neither had one.
He then accused Rodriguez-Vera of being a “witch,” meaning Rodriguez-Vera was not a member of the gang, said Rusch. Within moments, several other armed men prevented the victims from leaving, photographed them and demanded their phones.
An unidentified woman came out of another room and said she would determine who the victims were and that no one was going to die. The 19-year-old woman was taken into another room by the unidentified woman, who then video-called a mutual acquaintance to see whether the person would vouch for the group. The acquaintance declined to get involved.
After the acquaintance refused to vouch for the victims, two men told the unidentified woman to leave the girls alone because it was “hot” regarding females. The female victim interpreted the comment as meaning that harming women could attract attention from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rusch said.
At that point, the female victim saw Suarez-Vasquez and Rodriguez-Vera on a FaceTime call with an unidentified person, with Rodriguez-Vera explaining that he was not selling drugs and was not involved with another gang. The person on the call said he did not recognize Rodriguez-Vera and that Suarez-Vasquez could do what he wanted to him, according to Rusch.
The woman tried to intervene, but someone pushed her to the floor. She then heard Suarez-Vasquez say Rodriguez-Vera was not going to leave alive. The woman, the 17-year-old and the party host then saw Suarez-Vasquez and other men shoot Rodriguez-Vera, Rusch said. Police later recovered 13 shell casings from three firearms at the scene.
Investigators also obtained surveillance video with audio from outside the apartment and inside the hallway. The shooting itself was partially captured when the apartment door opened and closed as people moved through the doorway, Rusch said. Cell site data allegedly placed Suarez-Vasquez’s phone in the area at the time of the shooting and showed it leaving the area afterward.
Suarez-Vasquez was arrested July 19 in Kentucky and extradited to Markham, where he had a pending narcotics case. That case stems from his Feb. 10 arrest in Chicago Heights on a charge of possessing less than 15 grams of cocaine. Records show he failed to appear for his scheduled court dates, and a warrant was issued March 5.
Suarez-Vasquez also has a juvenile case pending for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and retail theft. Rusch said he was on pretrial release with a nighttime curfew in that matter when Rodriguez-Vera was killed. Pekara noted that it is unknown whether Suarez-Vasquez has a juvenile background or arrests dating to his time in Venezuela.
After his arrest, Rusch said, Suarez-Vasquez admitted to being at the party but denied taking part in the shooting.
Judge Deidre Dyler granted the state’s detention request Friday afternoon and ordered Suarez-Vasquez held pending trial.
Last month, federal officials said three Tren de Aragua gang members kidnapped an 18-year-old man from a South Side park this spring, beat him to death, shot his body multiple times, and then called his mother from Venezuela to tell her where she could find the body. Only two of the accused men have been publicly identified, but records show they were both supposed to be on court-ordered electronic monitoring for felony gun cases at the time of the murder.
The “not horrible” series
This report continues our coverage of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others on pretrial release for a felony allegation. CWBChicago began our series of reports in November 2019 after then-Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans publicly stated, “We haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the court’s bond reform initiative.
The actual number of murders and shootings committed by people awaiting trial for felony allegations is undoubtedly much higher than the numbers seen here. Since 2017, CPD has brought charges in less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, according to the city’s data. You can see all of the “not horrible” stories here.
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