No bail for teen charged in shooting of Northside College Prep student

A 17-year-old alleged gang member accused of killing a Northside College Prep student was denied bail on Thursday.

Luis R. Castejon was charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Emanuel Gallegos, also 17. Castejon was charged as an adult.

Gallegos and a friend, who also attends Northside College Prep, had driven to Schurz High School, 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave., to pick up another friend, Cook County prosecutors said in court.

Just before the Monday shooting, Castejon recorded himself holding a handgun with an extended clip and posted the video to Snapchat, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini.

Castejon, a member of the Spanish Four Corner Hustlers street gang, had approached the second friend while he was waiting to get picked up and demanded to know what gang he was a member of, Santini said.

The friend denied being in a gang and got into a rear passenger seat of the vehicle when it arrived about 5:30 p.m., Santini said.

Gallegos was seated in the front passenger seat of the vehicle as it started to drive west on Addison Street, prosecutors said. Castejon shouted gang slogans and began firing at the car from a corner near the high school.

Gallegos was struck in the neck and torso, and the vehicle he was in sped away.

The driver flagged down a Chicago police officer and an ambulance took Gallegos to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

Castejon was recorded firing the gun on video surveillance and two witnesses identified him as the shooter, prosecutors said. He was taken into custody Wednesday morning in the 2400 block of West Belmont, according to police.

Richard Blass, a private attorney for Castejon, said Castejon recently worked at a Burger King and was set to graduate from high school at the end of the semester, noting to Judge David Navarro that Castejon had no other criminal history.

Navarro ordered the teen held without bail and set his next court date for March 20.

Gallegos, one of four siblings, grew up in the city, according to his father, Esteban Gallegos.

“He never had any problems with nobody,” Esteban Gallegos said.