Felon charged with 2015 murder after coming off train at Union Station following prison release

A 33-year-old convicted felon was charged with a 2015 murder Thursday after he got off an Amtrak train at Union Station following his release from the Shawnee Correctional Center in an unrelated case.

Daniel Guana was back in custody Friday and ordered held on $250,000 bail for 31-year-old Rocky Weekes’ murder in Old Irving Park on Sept. 8, 2015.

Guana had been identified immediately by a relative of Weekes who had witnessed the deadly shooting.

It was unclear why Guana was not questioned at the time, but cold case detectives recently re-interviewed the relative and found his recollection of the shooting remained consistent, Cook County prosecutors said.

Little detail was given in court Friday as to why the Illinois State Police forensic lab took so long in testing blood that was found on a wooden bat-like object used by Guana’s companion to pound Weekes relative’s car in the attack.

But prosecutors said state police ruled in September that the results weren’t suitable for comparison.

Chicago police declined to comment Friday on whether the testing impacted the investigation and contributed to a delay in charging Guana.

On the fall night Weekes was murdered, his relative reluctantly drove him and a few of his friends to the 3300 block of North Keeler Avenue where they saw Guana, prosecutors said.

Weekes asked the relative to stop the vehicle and approached Guana as his friends waited outside. Weekes’ relative stayed in the vehicle.

As Weekes approached without a weapon, Guana pulled out a dark-colored revolver and fired two to three times, striking Weekes in the abdomen and leg, prosecutors said.

Weekes’ friends ran away when the shots were fired but a cohort of Guana’s began hitting Weekes’ relative’s car with the bat-like object, which was later recovered by police, prosecutors said.

Guana walked to the rear of the car and allegedly fired at the driver, but only struck the vehicle.

Weekes managed to climb onto the hood of the car and held on as his relative sped away. But Weekes soon fell off the hood, so the pair stopped a stranger who called 911, prosecutors said.

Weekes was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Weekes’ relative told police he recognized Guana from the neighborhood, and described him by his long hair and face tattoo, prosecutors said.

Chicago police

The relative, in a discussion about the shooting with another family member, described the shooter again a week later. That person found a picture of Guana on Facebook, and showed the photo to police.

That fall, the relative who was with Weekes before he was murdered, identified Guana again in a photo array, prosecutors said.

Guana, who was sentenced to four years for attempted burglary, was released on parole Thursday after serving a year at the downstate prison, state records show.

Defense attorney Ray Bendig called the evidence against Guana “tenuous” and questioned why police had never interviewed him if he had been identified as a suspect years ago.

“It’s not my place to say Chicago should have done this, or Chicago should have done that,” Judge David Navarro told Bendig. “They were conducting an investigation.”

Bendig said if his client had made it home, he would have stayed with his mother and worked at a Dairy Queen.

Guana is expected back in court on Aug. 4.