Antonio Reyes was so upset that his girlfriend broke up with him, he allegedly told her he was going “to go kill a King right now.”
Moments later, Reyes shot and killed a 26-year-old man who was sitting in his car on the South Side, Cook County prosecutors said Monday.
Luis Davalos-Garcia was parked outside his girlfriend’s home on the morning of June 24 when a silver sedan with “distinctive” wrap-around tail lights and a “baby on board” placard in the right rear windshield drove by and shots were fired, prosecutors said.
Davalos-Garcia suffered a gunshot wound to his right temple and chin, prosecutors said. After he was found by his girlfriend in the 5000 block of South Rockwell Street, Davalos-Garcia was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A private surveillance camera across the street captured the silver sedan that belonged to Reyes’ ex-girlfriend driving by Davalos-Garcia’s car at least one time before it stopped and shots were fired, prosecutors said.
A silver sedan with similar characteristics had also been linked to an earlier shooting that left two people injured, prosecutors said. No one has been charged in that incident but the two victims identified the car as a silver Lincoln.
Two weeks after Davalos-Garcia was killed, officers found a silver Lincoln MKZ resembling the vehicle involved in the earlier shooting and tried to stop it. In the midst of a long police chase, a passenger jumped out of the Lincoln and was arrested. That passenger identified Reyes as the driver during the case, which was called off after the Lincoln traveled onto the Skyway into Indiana, prosecutors said. The passenger also accused Reyes of throwing a two-toned black-and-silver gun with a laser sight out of the window during the pursuit. Prosecutors also said that person said Reyes admitted to two shootings.
A day after the chase, the Lincoln was discovered in Gary, Indiana, where it was towed and processed, prosecutors said. Detectives also found Reyes “acting suspicious” and locals confirmed that he didn’t live there, prosecutors said.
A week later, a landscaper found the gun described by the passenger on a median of southbound Lake Shore Drive, prosecutors said.
Investigators went on to obtain search warrants for Reyes’ Facebook account, which revealed numerous messages between him and his ex-girlfriend that included conversations about Reyes’ buying the Lincoln and putting it in her name and about him owning the gun, prosecutors said.
Records also showed the tumultuous relationship Reyes had with his ex-girlfriend, who is also the mother of his child. When they broke up, he allegedly said he was going to kill a “King” — referring to member of the street gang — and sent a video of himself in the car with the two-toned gun before Davalos-Garcia’s murder.
Reyes was arrested for his involvement in “multiple homicides” Sunday after he was identified as a gunman in a Thanksgiving Day shooting that left a 27-year-old man wounded in Gage Park. That victim said he did not know nor had he ever seen Reyes before the shooting, prosecutors said.
Reyes has four pending juvenile cases for arrests on charges including unlawful use of a weapon, assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery, prosecutors said.
Reyes was ordered held without bail Monday for Davalos-Garcia’s murder. He also was given $500,000 bail on his attempted murder case.
Reyes, who is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery, is expected back in court Dec. 28.
