COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Prosecutors charged a man in the 2013 murder of a 68-year-old Logan Square grandfather of nine who was attacked from behind, robbed and shot as he came home from work.
The accused — Mario Ortega — was already in jail, accused of a separate murder. Prosecutors have now linked him to the 2013 salying of Cayetano Sandoval, who killed on his way home from his Corner Bakery dishwashing job.
Sandoval, 68, was attacked at 1:30 a.m. on December 12, 2013. The father of four had parked a few blocks from his Logan Square apartment because closer parking was scarce.
As Sandoval neared his home, the then 20-year-old Ortega rushed Sandoval from behind and punched him repeatedly in the head, Assistant State's Attorney Enrique Abraham said during a bond hearing Friday.
Joshua Johnson, now 23, held Sandoval down and searched his pockets as Ortega continued the unprovoked beating, prosecutors said, adding that Ortega and Johnson are both members of the Latin Kings gang.
After the beating, Ortega looked down at Sandoval and fired four shots in his chest, police and prosecutors said. Sandoval was pronounced dead at the morgue at 4:45 a.m. that morning.
Several witnesses heard Sandoval scream for help, Abraham said, and a few residents looked out their windows to see what was happening. The entire attack was also caught on surveillance camera.
Johnson, who has already been charged in this case, told police he held down Sandoval during the robbery and watched Ortega shoot the elderly man, prosecutors said.
Ortega was arrested 10 hours after the murder on a drug charge, Abraham said, and subsequently charged in an unrelated 2014 murder case, which is pending trial. The new charges came this week.
Abraham said Ortega told someone "he robbed an old man, then shot and killed the old guy," hours after the fatal shooting.
Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. on Friday ordered Ortega held without bail.
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