A reputed member of the Two-Six street gang has been charged with gunning down a teenage rival in Little Village last year.
Santos Chavez, 27, shot 16-year-old Alberto Flores after Flores flashed a Latin King sign at Chavez on Feb. 21 in the 3300 block of West 30th Street, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.
Flores was walking when Chavez pulled up to the teenage in his white Chevrolet Impala, prosecutors said .
After Flores flashed the gang sign, Chavez rolled down his window and allegedly fired a weapon, striking Flores in the chest. A second shot is believed to have been fired as Chavez drove off, prosecutors said.
Flores collapsed and was later pronounced dead, prosecutors said.
Two people who were with Flores when he was shot identified Chavez as the gunman several months later, according to prosecutors, who added that Chavez was known to members of the Latin Kings because he was part of the gang before he defected to the rival Two-Six gang.
A private surveillance camera captured the shooting from a distance and police POD cameras and license plate readers captured the Impala as it traveled to and from the crime scene, prosecutors said.
Chavez has a pending unlawful use of a weapon case from July, and two pending misdemeanor domestic battery charges in Kane Country, prosecutors said.
Chavez’s lawyer Thursday questioned why it took nearly a year for prosecutors to charge Chavez in Flores’ murder, noting that his client “hasn’t been hiding under a rock where they couldn’t find him.”
Chavez is the father of six and works as a forklift driver, the defense attorney added.
Judge Mary Marabou ordered Chavez held without bail.
He is expected back in court Feb. 2.
