COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Rival gang members stole a 17-year-old's bike and taunted him with social-media photos hours before one of the gang's "shooters" murdered the boy, prosecutors alleged Thursday.
Jeremy Salinas, 17, was fatally shot in a drive-by attack about 8:35 p.m. on June 10 as he stood with a group of friends in the 900 block of West 32nd Place, according to police and prosecutors.
Earlier that afternoon, Salinas' bicycle was stolen by a member of the Satan Disciples gang, Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Keating said during a bond hearing Thursday. Salinas was a member of the rival Latin Kings gang, she added.
Several Satan Disciples contacted one of Salinas' friends through social media and sent photos of the bike, prosecutors said.
Members of each gang proceeded to send messages, which included a video of Salinas and other Latin Kings, according to Keating.
Later that evening, Omar Hernandez, a 23-year-old Satan Disciple, began driving his car through Bridgeport with several other gang members, prosecutors said.
One of the passengers, a "shooter" who has not been charged yet, had a gun and planned to shoot at any Latin Kings members he saw, according to Keating. When the car pulled onto the 900 block of West 32nd Place, the shooter opened fire — striking Salinas in his arm. The bullet traveled through the boy's chest and exited his abdomen, Keating said. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Witnesses were able to give police a partial license-plate number, prosecutors said. And nearby surveillance footage captured Hernandez and several others in his car about an hour before the murder.
When Hernandez was arrested Tuesday, he was driving the car used in fatal shooting, prosecutors said.
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Hernandez, of the 1400 block of West 18th Street, was charged with first-degree murder. Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Thursday ordered him held in lieu of $1 million bail.
