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Teen Drops Gun in Street Near Police, Gets Linked to December Shooting

By  Emily Morris and Erin Meyer | January 10, 2013 11:02am | Updated on January 10, 2013 6:36pm

 Gabriela Contreras, 21, allegedly drove the getaway car for her brother, Jose Guerra, and Estevan Rosario, prosecutors said.
Gabriela Contreras, 21, allegedly drove the getaway car for her brother, Jose Guerra, and Estevan Rosario, prosecutors said.
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Cook County Sheriffs Department

CHICAGO — Weighing little more than 100 pounds, Gabriela Contreras of Gage Park stood meekly before a judge in Cook County bond court Thursday.

The 21-year-old Gage Park woman is charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery for allegedly driving the getaway car when her brother, Jose Guerra, 19, and Estevan Rosario, 17, knocked over a Southwest Side business in December, prosecutors said.

With a 7-year-old child inside shopping with one an adult, Guerra and Estevan allegedly entered a store in the 4300 block of West 51st Street with a gun demanding money, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Lynott said.

They took several hundred dollars and fled.

Contreras picked them up in a van to make their escape, but a relative of the store owner followed in another vehicle.

 Gage Park teens Jose Guerra, 19, left, and Estevan Rosario, 17, were charged in connection with a Dec. 14 shooting and armed robbery that left a man seriously injured.
Gage Park teens Jose Guerra, 19, left, and Estevan Rosario, 17, were charged in connection with a Dec. 14 shooting and armed robbery that left a man seriously injured.
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Chicago Police Department

While in pursuit, the man was shot in the head, Lynott said. He remains hospitalized in a "vegetative state," Lynott said.

The brother and sister along with the third defendant were charged in the robbery after one of them made the mistake of dropping a gun in the street, police said Thursday.

Officers saw one of the teens drop a handgun and continue walking near where he lived in the 5800 block of South Fairfield Avenue on Sunday night, police said.

Officers picked up the gun and arrested Jose Guerra, 19, without incident, police said.

They then realized the gun matched the description of the weapon used in "recent robbery incidents," police said. After further investigation, investigators tied the weapon, Guerra and another teen to a December armed robbery and subsequent shooting in Archer Heights, police said.

Guerra is charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, firearm possession and parole violation. Rosario and Contreras are both charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery for their part in the holdup, police said.

According to Lynott, Guerra and Rosario both say the other was the shooter.

Guerra was ordered held on $750,000 bond Wednesday.

Cook County Judge Donald Panarese set bond for Rosario at $750,000 and at $500,000 for Contreras Thursday.