$1M bond for man charged with fatal Back of the Yards shooting

Bond was set at $1 million for a man charged with the murder of a 44-year-old man Sunday afternoon in the South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Victor Vazquez, 20, of the 4700 block of South Laflin, faces one count of first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Albertano Medrano, according to Chicago Police.

About 4 p.m. Sunday, Medrano was double-parked in his vehicle in the 4500 block of South Hermitage waiting for his wife and a friend, prosecutors said.

Vazquez was driving a white van with a passenger, and they were looking for rival gang members to shoot, prosecutors said. Vazquez pulled up next to Medrano’s vehicle and his passenger fired shots.

Medrano was shot twice in the neck, once in the head and once in the back, prosecutors said. He tried to drive away and crashed into three parked vehicles.

Medrano, who lived in the 1800 block of West 46th Street, was taken to Stroger Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:30 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide.

Ten shell casings were found at the scene, prosecutors said. Two buildings and four vehicles on that block also sustained damage from the spray of gunfire.

The officers got a description of the vehicle involved in the shooting and found the white van, which had been reported stolen, prosecutors said.

Surveillance video from a gas station in the 5200 block of South Western caught two people running and trying to put an item in the clothing donation box in the gas station’s parking lot, then running behind the station, prosecutors said.

An AK-47 was recovered from the bushes behind the station and preliminary evaluation of the casings recovered from the scene matched the weapon, prosecutors said.

Vazquez and his accomplice, who has not yet been charged, were arrested in an alley in the 5100 block of South Artesian, prosecutors said. He admitted driving the van involved in the shooting.

Judge Donald Panarese ordered Vazquez held on a $1 million bond in court Wednesday.