Five people attacked a car in Franklin Park earlier this month, shooting at it, smashing its windows with a golf club and robbing its two occupants, police say.
Two men from Franklin Park and two from Schiller Park have been charged with armed robbery and aggravated discharge of a firearm in connection with the incident: Daniel Heredia, 19, of the 9600 block of Nevada Avenue; Armando Baraza, 18, of the 9100 block of Grand Avenue; Adrian Vallejo, 19, of the 9400 block of Lawrence Court; and Joseph Martinez, 18, of the 9400 block of Lawrence Court.
A 17-year-old boy was also arrested for the incident. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has not decided yet whether to charge him as a juvenile or as an adult.
Police say the incident started when the five teenagers pulled up behind a car with two men on the 3300 block of Washington Street around 3 p.m. Feb. 7.
According to police, the five got out of their car and started beating the victim’s vehicle, including with a golf club. Windows were smashed, at least one of the five teens punched one of the victims and one of the suspects took a victim’s gym shoes, police say. IDs and some cash were also allegedly grabbed from the victims.
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“During the incident, one of the suspects pulled out a gun and pointed it at a victim,” said Franklin Park Police Cmdr. Mike Konwinski. “He did not shoot the gun, though.”
The five teens then allegedly got back in their car to leave, driving south on Washington Street, west onto Gage and then south onto Pearl Street, which dead ends behind the Sax-Tiedmann funeral home. As they pulled around to get back to Gage Street, they allegedly saw the victim’s vehicle at Gage and Washington streets.
“One of the suspects gets out, points a gun at the victim’s vehicle and fires three shots,” Konwinski said. “Nobody is hit. The victims are able to drive to another location where police meet them.”
Police say they’re still investigating the motivation for the incident, though they say the victims knew the suspects.
In the next several days after the incident, two of the adult suspects turned themselves into police and the other two adults came in after police called them.
Heredia’s bail was set at $225,000, Vallejo’s bail was set at $175,000, Martinez’s bail was set at $150,000 and Baraza’s bail was set at $125,000.
All four were being held at Cook County Jail as of Feb, 19. The next court date for all four is scheduled for Feb. 23 at Cook County Circuit Court in Maywood.
Franklin Park Police are still investigating conflicting stories on how the two groups met.
This was the second shooting reported in Franklin Park in the past month. Police are still investigating the shooting of a 16-year-old boy that took place on Prairie Street and Schiller Boulevard the evening of Jan. 28.
Konwinski said that shootings in Franklin Park tend to be “few and far between,” and these two just happened to occur within a few weeks of each other.