By Dave Gathman dgathman@stmedianetwork.com October 29, 2012 5:24PM
Eric M. Galarza, Sr.
Updated: October 29, 2012 9:40PM
A little more than a year has passed since the evening of Oct. 7, 2011, when someone pumped a half-dozen or so bullets into a car-full of women and children pulling out of a driveway on Elgin's northeast side, killing 5-year-old Eric Galarza Jr.
Five days later Eric's parents, Eric Galarza Sr. and Denisse Ignacio, walked behind the tiny white casket carrying their tiny son out of a funeral service attended by 300 mourners, many wearing white T-shirts bearing little Eric's face.
And two days later, on Oct. 14, 2011, Elgin police announced that after one of the most intense investigations in their history, they had charged Miguel Hernandez Jr. of Aurora with first-degree murder.
A year later, Hernandez remains in the Cook County Jail. He attended his most recent court hearing earlier this month, as the laborious legal dance that precedes a major murder trial crawls its way toward a trial date no one can even yet estimate.
And in the most surprising twist, the slain boy's father has become a much-wanted fugitive from the law.
Eric M. Galarza Sr., now 31, is no stranger to violence. Police say he has been a longtime member of the Latin Kings street gang, probably since he was a student at Elgin High School. At age 19 he was charged with firing a shotgun into two homes in Elgin as part of a gang operation. In 2001 he negotiated a guilty plea and was sentenced to nine years in prison, though he was paroled early.
A string of run-ins with the law preceded and followed, many involving battery cases or drinking.
Shots in the night
At 7:10 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2011, the Galarza family piled into their car and began backing out of the driveway in their home in the generally quiet middle-class neighborhood called Blackhawk Manor, bound for a Friday-night dinner with the children's grandparents.
According to police, Denisse's sister was at the steering wheel. Riding along were Eric Sr., Denisse, Eric Jr. and the couple's two other children, a 2-year-old boy and a 5-month-old girl. As the car pulled out, five to seven shots rang out from the darkness behind them.
Young Eric Jr. was the only one injured — he was hit in the head by a bullet, just above one eye. He was taken to Sherman Hospital, where he died about three hours later.
The next Friday, Elgin police announced they had charged Miguel Hernandez Jr., then 27, of the 1100 block of Maple Street in Aurora, with first-degree murder.
According to various court documents, detectives believe that Hernandez Jr. and another man rode to the shooting scene in a black Toyota Tundra pickup that was owned and driven by his father. All three, police claim, were members of the Latin Kings. Hernandez's father and the other man in the car have not been charged.
Hernandez Jr., too, has a lengthy criminal record. He was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison for attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm in 2004; to three years in prison for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2002; and to 11 months of conditional discharge for possession of marijuana in 2010.
His attorney said Hernandez Jr. was single but had two children — one a baby and one, ironically, 5-years-old, the same age as Eric Galarza Jr.
The accused killer had worked at a factory as a machine operator for four years, the attorney said. Though living in Aurora at the time, Hernandez Jr. was born in Elgin, is a U.S. citizen and had spent his life in the Fox Valley.
Something police and prosecutors have not revealed is the alleged motive for the shooting, though investigators say they're sure Eric Sr. was the gunman's real target, and gang problems may have been involved.
Going on the lam
In the most striking development in the case, Eric Galarza Sr. would allegedly turn his proclivity for violence against his wife and then disappear, taking with him any testimony he could offer against Hernandez Jr.
According to Wayne Police Chief Dan Callahan and court records, Eric Sr. was driving his wife from their Elgin home to her job in St. Charles on the morning of June 21, 2012. As they drove, they began arguing, and Eric Sr. "punched and choked" his wife, according to a court document. After she threatened to tell the police, she said, he pulled a handgun from under the seat of the car and said he would kill her if she did. He then dropped her off at work.
Callahan said that over her lunch hour, Denisse Galarza had a co-worker drive her to the Wayne police station and reported what had happened. Callahan said officers decided the safest way to arrest Eric Sr. was to stake out the business on Kirk Road where Denisse worked, because he was expected to return there at 4 p.m. to take her home.
"She said he normally backed into a handicapped parking space and waited for her to come out," Callahan said. "But he must have sensed that police were around, because all of a sudden he just took off."
A high-speed chase was soon under way along Kirk Road, then Dunham Road, until Galarza hit a curb, rupturing the car's front tires. Ditching the car, he ran into the nearby heavily wooded Pate Philip State Park, according to police.
And that was the last time anybody has been known to have seen Eric Galarza Sr.
"We have reason to believe he has fled from Illinois, and there is thought that he may have gone to Mexico," Callahan said.
Like most murder cases, the one against Hernandez Jr. has continued through one pretrial hearing after another as prosecutors and defense attorneys seek to find out each other's evidence and argue legal points. The Aurora man's next court hearing is set for Nov. 26.
As for Eric Sr. disappearing and being unavailable to testify, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney David Weiner said, "We'd prefer to have him but we can proceed without him. Not having him testify is not fatal to our case."
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario