A Chicago man has been charged with a weekend shooting at a mall in North Riverside that killed a woman with whom he had been in a relationship and injured the couple’s teenage daughter, authorities said.
Honorio Perez, 49, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm in Saturday’s shooting at the North Riverside Park Mall in the western suburbs, according to police and prosecutors. Perez lives in the 2500 block of South Trumbull Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood, police said.
Maria Ruiz, 42, was found inside her vehicle with gunshot wounds to her body. She was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where she was pronounced dead.
Perez was ordered held without bail at a hearing Wednesday afternoon at the Cook County courthouse in Maywood.
In denying bail, Judge Geary Kull said Perez was arrested trying to flee to Mexico, demonstrating he is a flight risk.
According to prosecutors, Perez was arrested at a bus stop, where he was planning to board a bus to Mexico. He also had a fake ID card.
Public Defender Rodney Carr said Perez is a U.S. citizen and worked for a roofing company for the last four to five years. He has eight children, including the teen who was injured.
The shooting happened just after 5:45 p.m. at the mall in the 7500 block of West Cermak Road, police said.
According to prosecutors, Perez and Ruiz had been in a “dating relationship.” Ruiz left Perez, and Perez began stalking her and threatened to kill her and himself. Perez, who obtained a gun in December, followed the mother and daughter to a church on Saturday, and later learned they were going shopping.
Prosecutors said he followed them to the mall. Later, when Ruiz and the girl got into Ruiz’s van outside the mall, Perez approached the vehicle and began firing several shots into it, striking Ruiz several times, prosecutors said. The teen was grazed by a bullet and also injured by flying glass. After the teen realized who the shooter was, she said she was going to call police. Perez then fled from the area.
Authorities said the girl’s injuries were not considered life-threatening.
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Ruiz also lived in Little Village, according to information from the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Family members declined to speak to a reporter as they left the courthouse.
Honorio Perez’s first name was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.
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