Man charged with fatally beating 17-year-old rival gang member

A man is the third suspect charged with the fatal beating of a 17-year-old boy on New Year’s Day 2013 in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

Daniel Malave, 29, faces one count of first-degree murder in connection with the death of a rival gang member, Ezequiel Velazquez, according to Chicago Police.

He was arrested about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the 4500 block of South Washtenaw, police said. On Saturday, Malave, who lives in the 4200 block of South Rockwell, was ordered held at Cook County Jail without bond.

About 6 a.m. Jan. 1, 2013, Velasquez and a 21-year-old woman were headed westbound on 40th Street when they encountered a dark Chevrolet Suburban blocking the street near Pulaski Road, authorities said at the time. A group of several suspects got out of the SUV and approached the pair in their Chrysler Sebring to ask if they had any gasoline.

When Velasquez and the woman replied they did not, the suspects pulled the woman from the car and beat her, police said. When the teen got out of the car, the suspects also beat him.

The woman did not seek medical treatment and the Chrysler was later found in the 4200 block of South Campbell, police said at the time.

Velasquez, of the Clearing neighborhood on the Southwest Side, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy determined he died from blunt force head injuries and his death was ruled a homicide.

Malave is due back in court Jan. 30, court records show.

Vincent Lopez, 26, of the 5800 block of South Whipple, was charged in August 2013 with one count of first-degree murder. He has been sentenced to 24 years in prison, with a projected parole date in 2037. A boy, who was 15 years old at the time of his arrest in 2013, was also charged with murder in connection with Velazquez’s death. His name was not released at the time because he was a juvenile.