Murder charge filed in North Park shooting

A Skokie man accused of killing another driver as they jockeyed each other in traffic on the Northwest Side last year was denied bail Thursday.

Alexis Del Toro, 22, sped past Baghirov Gurban’s black 2020 Hyundai shortly before 8 p.m. on Dec. 19 as they both drove north on Kedzie Avenue, leading Gurban to try and pass Del Toro several times, Cook County prosecutors said in court.

Gurban, 25, couldn’t overtake Del Toro but was able to pull alongside the stolen Jeep Del Toro was driving, prosecutors said.

The younger man then reached out his driver’s side window with a 10-mm Glock handgun and fired six times in the 5500 block of North Kedzie Avenue, striking Gurban in the head, prosecutors said.

Gurban was take to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead.

The shooting was recorded by a rear-facing dash camera in an Uber that was ahead of the two vehicles in traffic, prosecutors said.

Chicago police

Just three minutes before the shooting, Del Toro had left an alley in the 4300 block of North Kedzie after conducting a drug sale and was identified by the person he sold the drugs to as driving the Jeep, which was missing a front license plate, prosecutors said.

Over several days after the shooting, authorities were able to retrace the Jeep’s travels using POD and private surveillance cameras that matched with location data later recovered from Del Toro’s phone, prosecutors said.

On Dec. 20, Del Toro crashed the Jeep in West Rogers Park and a surveillance camera recorded him and another man fleeing the SUV, prosecutors said. A water bottle found in the driver’s side door was tested and allegedly matched Del Toro’s fingerprints.

During a traffic stop Tuesday, Del Toro ran from officers into an apartment building in the 3900 block of North Kedzie Avenue, where he barricaded himself inside a third-floor apartment, prosecutors said.

An officer positioned in the gangway of the building heard a “crash” of something falling and then saw a bag directly below an open third-story window that contained drugs and two handguns, including a Glock that matched shell casings found at the scene of the shooting, prosecutors said. A third handgun was allegedly recovered from the Jeep, as well.

The Glock used in the shooting also matched casings recovered in two other incidents, including when Del Toro shot at a woman in October after they “encountered” each other in traffic, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors listed a lengthy criminal history for Del Toro, including multiple drug-related convictions.

Del Toro lives with his girlfriend, who recently gave birth to his child, and works for his family’s construction business, his defense attorney said.

In her order, Judge Mary Marubio noted the “large amount of video evidence” collected by police and said Del Toro had “essentially caught felonies on a consistent basis,” since coming of age as as adult.

Marubio additionally ordered Del Toro to have no contact with any witnesses in the case.

He was expected back in court April 26.