A second man has pleaded guilty in connection to a 2015 incident during which a gun was pointed at Aurora police officers.
In an agreement with prosecutors, 23-year-old Rene Muro admitted to a single count of possession of a firearm by a gang member and was sentenced to 61/2 years in prison, prosecutors said Friday. Muro has been held in Kane County Jail on $500,000 bail since his arrest in July. He was scheduled for a June bench trial.
Authorities have said Muro and another man, 20-year-old Erik Esparza, were spotted by undercover Aurora police officers near Pearl Street and Parker Avenue after leaving a suspicious vehicle. The two men were confronted by police as they walked between homes in the neighborhood. Prosecutors said Esparza pointed a .45-caliber handgun at one of two officers from the department’s special operations group who encountered Muro and Esparza. After Esparza pulled the gun, the officer fired two shots in the pair’s direction, although no one was hit, prosecutors said. Esparza and Muro, shown in court records to be documented gang members, were apprehended a short time later. Police said they found two handguns as part of their investigation.
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Esparza was sentenced to nine years in prison last month after being convicted in a bench trial of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, possession of a weapon by a gang member and aggravated assault. He is being held in the Robinson Correctional Center in Robinson, with a scheduled parole date in 2020, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.