Jan. 11--A South Side man remains held in lieu of a $1 million bail after being charged with murder in a shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood that police said stemmed from a yearslong conflict between street gangs.
Juan Vasquez is accused of fatally shooting Ismael Lopez, 24, in the 4800 block of South Winchester Avenue in the early afternoon on April 30, 2015.
Lopez had been wounded there years before, along with a 16-year-old boy who died. Lopez was killed on what would have been the boy's 21st birthday.
In the months before his death, his family said Lopez had taken steps to separate from the gang he had joined as a teen.
Vasquez, of the 6000 block of South Wolcott Avenue, was charged with first-degree murder.
On the afternoon of the attack, Lopez, a La Raza gang member, was standing in a group including members of the Two-Six gang, which had been involved in an "ongoing altercation'' with the La Raza gang, prosecutors said during a bond hearing Sunday.
Vasquez "hung out of one of the windows,'' and fired multiple shots at Lopez and the group while inside a vehicle that followed a red SUV as they traveled down 49th Street , prosecutors said.
Four spent shell casings that were "spaced" down the street as if they were fired while moving from different locations were recovered from the scene, prosecutors said.
Judge Laura Sullivan ordered Vasquez held in lieu of $1 million bail during a hearing Sunday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. The case was continued until Jan. 29.
