A parolee convicted of shooting two women in 2012 is back in custody, accused of killing a man and shooting another in Logan Square because he thought they were rival gang members. But prosecutors say 43-year-old Jose Gomez-Estrada and his 33-year-old companion had no gang affiliations and were simply watching a World Cup game on the porch when 31-year-old Brandon Sims decided to target them.
At about 9:30 p.m. on July 11, Sims rolled up to a liquor store in the 1900 block of North Milwaukee Avenue on a Lime scooter and met with two other members of the Spanish Lords street gang, prosecutors said in a detention filing. Surveillance video showed him entering the store and buying a green can of Four Loko. Outside, he returned the Lime scooter through the app by submitting a photo of it. The photo also showed the Four Loko can.
The three men then walked to the corner of Washtenaw and North Avenue. One of them recorded Sims and the other man throwing up gang signs before they headed north toward the area where the shooting would soon occur.
A few houses away, Gomez-Estrada, his companion, and a third person were outside Gomez-Estrada’s home watching the soccer game.
Someone in Sims’ group yelled words to the effect of, “Who you with?” and “What’s up, Maniac?” toward the men on the porch. One of the men looked up to see Sims reaching for his waistband and took off running toward the back of the house, with Gomez-Estrada and the second victim behind him. Sims began shooting.
Chicago police surveillance cameras captured moments leading up to the shooting and the shooting itself, according to prosecutors. The video showed Sims holding the green can of Four Loko and taking a drink as he stopped to interact with the men on the porch. It showed him pulling a gun and firing, then setting down the Four Loko and shooting again. He fled with the other two Spanish Lords, leaving the can behind.
Detectives learned the Lime scooter was rented to someone with an email address containing the name “Brandon Sims.” They ran that name through some databases and noticed that this Sims looked like the shooter, prosecutors said. A search warrant executed on Sims’ phone showed that it traveled to and from the shooting scene at the time of the murder, and the Four Loko can police recovered from the crime scene had Sims’ fingerprints on it, prosecutors said. DNA test results on the can are pending.
On Tuesday, officers staked out an apartment in the 2200 block of West Washington Boulevard until Sims exited a garden apartment with a black bag over his shoulder. He ran when officers approached, hopped a fence, discarded the bag, and returned to the apartment. He eventually came back outside and surrendered.
Police recovered the black bag. It contained a loaded 9-millimeter handgun outfitted with an auto-fire switch, which makes it capable of firing automatically. Investigators determined, however, that it was not the weapon used in the murder.
Sims was paroled on Christmas Eve after serving half of a five-year sentence he received for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
In 2013, he received a 12-year sentence after being found guilty of two counts of attempted murder for shooting two women who were in a car. The victims knew him because of his gang affiliation, prosecutors said.
Two years before that, he received a three-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a street gang member after he was found on the steps of Foreman College and Career Academy, where he had been expelled, with a loaded handgun in his book bag.
Sims is now charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, and possession of a firearm by a repeat felon. On Thursday, Judge D’Anthony Thedford ordered him detained pending trial. The state is also reconsidering his parole status.
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