Why a 16-year-old boy would allegedly gun down a young woman as she parked her car on the Southwest Side wasn’t made any clearer at his bond hearing Tuesday.
Victor Caballero had no known connection to 18-year-old Azul De La Garza and neither did anyone else he was with on Sept. 25 when he repeatedly shot De La Garza outside her father’s home in the 5400 block of South Avers Avenue, Cook County prosecutors said.
De la Garza had recently graduated from Solorio Academy and had a scholarship to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the fall, her family told the Chicago Sun-Times. Before she was killed, she had spent time with her mother and purchased a Halloween costume.
Caballero has been charged as an adult for De la Garza’s murder.
Just before the shooting, Caballero was captured on surveillance cameras and seen by witnesses walking up and down the block with a group of people, prosecutors said.
When De la Garza parked, Caballero was seen separating from the group and approaching De la Garza’s car while wearing a distinctive black, sleeveless shirt, prosecutors said.
Caballero fired at least eight times into De la Garza’s car before running away with the others through an alley, prosecutors said.
Eventually, Caballero walked away while the others got onto a CTA bus, prosecutors said.
Chicago police last month released video of three suspects tied to the deadly shooting and asked for the public’s help in identifying them.
Caballero, who was arrested Monday, was identified by multiple witnesses as the shooter, according to prosecutors, who gave no motive for the shooting.
During Tuesday’s live-streamed bond court hearing, Caballero rocked himself back and forth in a chair and spoke softly when Judge Barbara Dawkins told him to let her know if there was anything said that he didn’t understand.
Caballero has never had any previous juvenile convictions and prosecutors did not indicate there was any physical evidence linking him to De la Garza’s murder, an assistant public defender pointed out to Dawkins.
Caballero is expected back in court Dec. 10.
