Six Waukegan gang members were in custody Sunday on suspicion of beating a Racine, Wis., youth to death with a golf club during a January “mission” to beat up rival gang members and steal their jackets.
Racine police said the investigation into the Jan. 31 murder of Valentine “Roy” Bueno, 17, continues, and more arrests are expected.
Bueno and a 15-year-old friend were walking down a street at 7 p.m. in an industrial part of Racine when the attack occurred. The two youths, who were not gang members, were on their way to watch the Super Bowl at another friend’s house, police said.
“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Racine police Detective Joel Swencki. Bueno’s friend also was beaten in the attack, but he was treated at a local hospital and released that night.
The attacks outraged Racine’s small Hispanic community, Swencki said. The murder prompted community meetings to discuss gang violence, a protest march by Bueno’s family and friends, and a flurry of graffiti at the spot where Bueno was killed, saying, “We Love You Valentine.”
“In our city, it was a big deal,” Swencki said. “It’s just random violence, not just gang member against gang member.”
The murder came at a time of increasing tension among Racine’s gangs, Swencki said. But it was the first time the Wisconsin city has had problems with Waukegan gangs.
Charged with first-degree murder are Guilebaldo Martinez, 19, Miguel Chan, 18, and Juan Figueroa, 21. They also were charged with two counts of being party to an armed robbery and one count of being party to aggravated battery.
Two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old accused of swinging the golf club are also charged with murder.
Racine authorities are planning to extradite the six suspects to Wisconsin and are hoping that the three juvenile suspects are tried as adults because of the brutality of the crime, he said.
The 17-year-old was arrested on March 5 after a joint investigation by police in Racine and Waukegan. The others were arrested last Thursday and Friday.
The incident began about mid-afternoon on Jan. 31, when two carloads of Waukegan gang members drove north to Racine. They first stopped to visit several girls that they had met last summer.
Swencki said they told the girls that they were on “a mission” to beat up Hispanic gang members in Racine and steal their jackets. They left the girls, then started driving around Racine and encountered Bueno and his friend at 7 p.m.
Bueno died in the hospital early the next morning.