COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A Belmont Cragin man has been charged with fatally shooting another driver outside a Humboldt Park liquor store.
Prosecutors said the attack happened about 12:30 a.m. March 23 in the 1100 block of North Pulaski Road.
The alleged gunman, Victor Mendoza, parked his car across the street from the liquor store before walking inside to make a purchase shortly after midnight, Assistant State's Attorney Lesley Gool said during a bond hearing Thursday.
As Mendoza left the store, the victim, 35-year-old Mario Ramirez, drove up in a white car and began yelling at other men who were standing outside, prosecutors said.
Mendoza started walking back to his car, Gool noted, and Ramirez began to yell at him, too.
As Mendoza sat down in the driver's seat of his car, Ramirez backed up his own vehicle so that it was parallel with Mendoza's, prosecutors said. The two men began yelling, while still sitting in their respective cars.
That's when Mendoza pulled out a gun and shot Ramirez twice, according to Gool.
Mendoza, who had four passengers in the car, drove away, prosecutors said, and Ramirez chased after him before ultimately crashing after about five blocks.
Police found Ramirez, of the 800 block of North Tripp Avenue, unresponsive in the driver's seat of his car. He was brought to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Mendoza, of the 2200 block of North Major Avenue, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder. Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. on Thursday set bail at $1 million.
The murder was captured on surveillance footage from the liquor store, prosecutors said, and several witnesses identified Mendoza as the shooter.
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