A Kane County judge has sentenced 23-year-old Gabriel Martinez to nearly 10 years in prison for opening fire on a teen during a 2015 drive-by shooting in Aurora.
Martinez, of Aurora, pleaded guilty to aggravated discharge of a firearm and received a sentence of 9 1/2 years as part of an agreement with prosecutors which involved the dismissal of a charge of attempted murder he originally faced. Judge John Barsanti accepted the plea.
Prosecutors and police said Martinez was in a vehicle traveling on the 200 block of Beach Street in July 2015 when he began shooting at a home where a 14-year-old boy was sitting on the front porch. The teen was not struck, but two bullets did hit the residence in what police described as a gang-related incident.
Although the teen didn’t cooperate with investigators, police were able to identify Martinez as the shooter after the department’s special operations group stopped a vehicle which matched the one involved in the shooting.
Martinez has been held in Kane County Jail since his arrest and will be given credit toward his prison sentence for the more than a year he spent in custody.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.