CHICAGO — A Venezuelan migrant, charged with murdering another migrant, is hospitalized after being shot by yet another migrant who was angered by the killing, officials say. Both shootings occurred inside the same Washington Park apartment building where a 911 call reporting that armed migrants had taken over the complex was declared unfounded and decried as racism by mainstream news outlet “experts” in September.
Carlos Reinaldo Maribal-Carvajal, 24, robbed and murdered Peter Sangronis-Medina inside the building in the 6100 block of South Martin Luther King on November 11 and then hid the body in a trash bin, prosecutors said this weekend.
Maribal-Carvajal robbed Sangronis-Medina of a firearm and then used the weapon to kill Sangronis-Medina inside the victim’s apartment, a felony complaint said. Maribal-Carvajal allegedly left and later returned to the apartment to confirm Sangronis-Medina was dead. He then dragged Sangronis-Medina’s body outside and hurled it over the second-floor balcony into a “deliberately placed dumpster,” hoping to keep the murder from being discovered, the complaint said.
A GoFundMe campaign for Sangronis-Medina said he was “a hard working, respectful, family oriented and loving father who came to America looking for the American dream.” The fundraiser, organized by his employer, said Sangronis-Medina “had no family here,” so they are raising money to “help us get him back home to his family in Venezuela.”
While police painstakingly investigated the murder, Chicago’s street justice system was not so patient.
On November 19, eight days after the crime, somebody shot Maribal-Carvajal several times from behind inside the same apartment building in the 6100 block of South Martin Luther King.
Chicago police officers heard the gunfire and found Maribal-Carvajal gravely wounded with a loaded handgun tucked in his waistband, officials said.
Prosecutors quickly charged Henry Brito-Dominguez, 23, with the shooting. During a police interview, Brito-Dominguez allegedly admitted that he shot Maribal-Carvajal because he had killed Sangronis-Medina, a CPD report stated. Brito-Dominguez also claimed that he saw Maribal-Carvajal with a gun earlier on the day that he shot Maribal-Carvajal, according to the report.
Both shootings occurred inside an apartment building where 911 callers on Labor Day reported that “32 Venezuelans” were trespassing and “showing guns in the courtyard.” Tweets about the 911 call, first reported by @spotnewsonig, quickly went viral. But CPD said responding officers found no issues when they arrived.
Block Club Chicago published a story the next day headlined, “No, Armed Venezuelan Migrants Did Not Take Over A Chicago Apartment Building.” That same day, the Chicago Tribune published its own report: “Experts say anti-immigrant rhetoric led to viral — and incorrect — allegations of a migrant takeover.”
Maribal-Carvajal remains hospitalized under police guard. When detectives visited him in the hospital on the day before Thanksgiving, Maribal-Carvajal admitted to shooting Sangronis-Medina after Sangronis-Medina threatened his family, a CPD report stated.
He is charged with first-degree murder, murder, concealing a homicidal death, and armed robbery.
