Son murdered father in Des Plaines mobile home over ‘longstanding argument’: prosecutors

A longstanding family argument turned fatal Monday when a 22-year-old man allegedly shot and killed his father in a Des Plaines mobile home, according to prosecutors.

Martin Chavez-Lomeli Jr. is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his father, 54-year-old Martin V. Chavez, who was found with multiple gunshots in a bedroom at the Town and Country mobile home park, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

According to prosecutors, Chavez-Lomeli Jr. allegedly planned to confront and kill his father in their home, and had asked his 10-year-old sister to leave before he did it — but she refused.

Des Plaines police

Shortly after, Chavez-Lomeli Jr. went to his father’s bedroom and fired a gun, believing he was hiding from him under the bed, prosecutors said. He did not realize that his father and sister had left to drive his mother to work.

When he noticed his father was gone, Chavez-Lomeli Jr. picked up the spent shell casings and waited a half hour until his father returned with the child, prosecutors said.

Armed with the gun, Chavez-Lomeli Jr. allegedly took his father’s cellphone and confronted him about several issues he believed he had with his dad, prosecutors said. The 10-year-old ran to a neighbor for help.

Chavez-Lomeli Jr. allegedly pushed his father into the bedroom, locked the door behind him and shot his father several times, prosecutors said.

Leaving the room and closing the door, Chavez-Lomeli Jr. heard his father crying on the floor of the room and fired several shots through the door until the crying stopped, prosecutors said.

Officers responded at 8:38 a.m. to the home at 815 E. Oakton St. and found Chavez’s body on the bedroom floor with multiple gunshot wounds, Des Plaines police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police searched the area and found Chavez-Lomeli Jr. driving his mother’s car a couple blocks away, prosecutors said.

Officers arrested him and found a handgun in the vehicle, according to Des Plaines police, who said Chavez-Lomeli Jr. had a “longstanding dispute” with his father.

A Cook County judge denied him bail during a Wednesday hearing at a courtroom in Skokie, according to court records.

In July 2019, Chavez-Lomeli Jr. was charged with a misdemeanor count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in a road rage incident in which he allegedly flashed an Airsoft gun to a tow truck driver he thought was following him through his neighborhood, according to Des Plaines police.

His next court date is set for Nov. 26.

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