An 18-year-old man on juvenile probation for gun possession shot and killed a beloved Midway Airport employee in December while shouting gang slogans, and he carjacked another man at gunpoint this week, prosecutors said Friday.
Officials presented the allegations against Alonzo Rodriguez-Median during a detention hearing before Judge William Fahy at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. Fahy imprisoned Rodriguez-Medina as a safety risk.
Johnny Huizar, 32, was driving home from work, still wearing his Southwest Airlines uniform, when he was shot in the 6100 block of South Central Park at about 8:51 p.m. on December 9.
“I turned around, looked at my brother, and he was standing outside of his car, holding onto the door, and bleeding from his eye and ear,” his sister, Brenda Huizar, told WGN following the shooting.
Some family members attacked the police department’s handling of the incident, stating officers questioned him too many times.
As the inquiry progressed, authorities discovered surveillance video that would prove important in pressing charges.
The camera showed Rodriguez-Media and an accomplice leave “a known gang-affiliated residence” immediately before the murder and headed toward the gunshot location, according to prosecutors in a detention motion filed Friday.
According to the petition, Rodriguez-Medina and the other man called out their gang connection before shooting Huizar several times. Huizar, who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, kept driving to his adjacent home.
According to the petition, once the shooters exited the site, another camera showed Rodriguez-Medina changing clothing before returning to the accused gang house.
Prosecutors said two Chicago police officers and Rodriguez-Medina’s probation officer identified him in the footage.
Police apprehended Rodriguez-Medina early Thursday morning after he and two accomplices carjacked a man in Brighton Park, according to prosecutors.
According to a Chicago Police Department complaint, the hijackers held the 39-year-old victim at gunpoint in front of his residence on the 4600 block of South Trumbull before taking his 2014 Volkswagen Jetta.
A few minutes later, officers located the Jetta in the 1700 block of West 65th Street using license plate scanner equipment. According to the complaint, three males fled the automobile, including Rodriguez-Medina, who was discovered in the backyard of a nearby residence.
According to prosecutors’ detention plea, he “made admissions” to the hijacking and Huizar’s murder.
They accused him of first-degree murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking while armed with a firearm, vehicle hijacking, armed robbery with a firearm, aggravated robbery, and unlawful vehicular invasion.