A man is charged with shooting two people, killing one, in a case of mistaken identity in Pilsen last summer. Within seconds of the murder, Chicago police officers fatally shot the man’s accomplice, 16-year-old Alex Cortez, after the boy turned toward pursuing officers with a gun in his hand, prosecutors said.
Christopher Ford, 24, was identified as the second gunman through DNA evidence, extensive video footage, and the fact that he dropped his phone while running from police, Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara said in a detention petition.
According to Pekara, the three victims left a bar in the 1800 block of South Blue Island shortly after 1 a.m. on August 18, 2024, got into a car, and drove away. As they were leaving, another dark sedan pulled onto the block and slowed down to exchange words with a group Ford was with. Ford allegedly reached toward his waistband as that second car pulled away.
About a minute later, video showed the victims’ car driving up the block as they headed home. Mistakenly believing it to be the sedan carrying the people who had just exchanged words, Ford and Cortez ran toward the vehicle and opened fire, unleashing a torrent of 35 rounds, Pekara said.
The driver of the victims’ car, 29-year-old Stephen Mancilla-Carlos, died from a gunshot wound to the head. A woman in the front passenger seat suffered a gunshot wound to her chest while another woman in the back seat was not injured.
Chicago police officers happened to be just around the corner from the shooting. They immediately activated their blue lights, rounded the corner, and began chasing Ford and Cortez, Pekara said.
At one point, Cortez “stopped and turned toward the officers while holding a firearm in his right hand,” according to Pekara. One of the officers shot Cortez, killing him. Investigators determined that the gun Cortez held fired 16 of the 35 shots.
Ford got away, but police recovered the phone he dropped and clothing he discarded nearby. They linked the clothes to him through DNA tests. Investigators also searched the recovered phone, which contained pictures of Ford’s driver’s license, letters from his bank and the IRS addressed to him, and “numerous photos of him holding firearms,” according to Pekara.
After his recent arrest, Ford allegedly admitted to firing at the victims’ car, believing it to be the one that had driven past him earlier.
Judge Luciano Panici Jr. ordered Ford detained. He is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery by firearm, and three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm.
Court records show Ford was charged with illegally possessing a firearm in the 1200 block of West 47th Street in July 2023. Prosecutors dropped the charge in March 2024, about five months before the murder.
Two days after the shooting, COPA, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, said state law prohibited it from releasing video and other materials related to the police shooting of Cortez. The agency typically releases video, reports, and other materials within 60 days of fatal shootings.
COPA said it continued to investigate whether the officers’ use of force was consistent with CPD’s policies and training. So far, the results of that investigation have not been released.
In 2021, after a Chicago police officer fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo, COPA released a collection of evidence, including the body-worn camera footage of the shooting. However, a 2022 court ruling now prohibits the agency from releasing video of shootings involving juveniles, a COPA spokesperson said last year.
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