April 17--A 31-year-old man was held without bail Sunday in the killing of two men. Prosecutors say he followed the two men for almost 2 miles from outside an Austin neighborhood liquor store before fatally shooting them last summer.
Jose Ortiz was charged over the weekend in the June 2015 killings of Richard Rodriguez and Josean Rueda, both 19. Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered Ortiz held without bond during a Sunday afternoon hearing, saying he posed a danger to himself and the community.
Just before 4 a.m. on June 7, 2015, Rodriguez and Rueda were driving their 1999 Infiniti near the 300 block of North Cicero Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood when they parked at a liquor store, prosecutors said. Surveillance video from near the store showed a black Land Rover appeared to follow the teens' car into the lot and parked a few spots away.
The video shows a man, identified as Ortiz, getting out of the Land Rover briefly, looking in the teens' direction then getting back into his car, prosecutors said. Ortiz then followed Rodriguez and Rueda as the teens drove north on Cicero and stopped at a gas station along the way.
Rodriguez and Rueda stopped again at Cicero and North avenues, according to prosecutors. At that point, Ortiz pulled up alongside them and fired several shots at their car, hitting both men twice, according to the prosecutors and police. Rodriguez and Rueda were taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
Police found .45-caliber shell casings at the scene and collected them as evidence, prosecutors said in court Sunday.
Surveillance video at the liquor store parking lot showed Ortiz using his cellphone while inside his car, prosecutors said. Investigators then checked Ortiz' cellphone records and found that his phone pinged off a tower near the liquor store just before the shooting.
Detectives later tracked down Ortiz' car and found a shell casing near the windshield. Testing showed that the shell casing matched the weapon used to shoot Rodriguez and Rueda, prosecutors said.
Police also found school records for Ortiz' child in the car. His name was listed on the car's lease, prosecutors said.
Police later were able to gather enough evidence to receive a murder warrant for Ortiz' arrest.
Gang investigators and Area North detectives arrested Ortiz, of the 4100 block of North Francisco Avenue, on Friday after spotting him in the 4400 block of South Cicero Avenue. Police knew that he was wanted in a murder warrant and took him into custody, according to an arrest report in court documents.
Ortiz, wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and jeans, did not speak during Sunday's hearing.
Ortiz' attorney, John Brayman, said Ortiz works as a contractor and has five children and stepchildren. His mother and fianc饠were in court, and left the courtroom in tears after Ciesil ordered him held.
Brayman argued for Ortiz' bond to be lowered, saying none of the prosecutor's evidence definitely pointed to Ortiz firing the fatal shots. Prosecutors said there were no eyewitnesses to the shootings.
The case "is based on an association between my client and a car," Brayman said after the hearing. "It's very circumstantial. We're looking forward to a trial."
Chicago Tribune's Deanese Williams-Harris contributed.
