A Waukegan man was indicted on first-degree murder charges by a Lake County grand jury this week after allegedly killing a man and injuring four others last month while driving his SUV outside of the Lake County Sports Center in Waukegan.
Prisciliano Carranza, 22, is scheduled for arraignment Nov. 7 in Lake County Circuit Court. He is in the custody of the Lake County jail with bail set at $5 million.
According to Waukegan police, one man was killed and four people were injured at the end of an altercation that began after a soccer game ended on Oct. 4.
Prosecutors at a bond court appearance said Carranza drove an SUV into a group of people standing outside at the sports center. He then allegedly hit a brick column and drove off, only to be arrested when a Waukegan officer noticed front end damage to the vehicle he was in — a black SUV that matched a description of the vehicle at the scene.
According to prosecutors, Carranza’s vehicle dragged the man who died 25 feet. Four others were struck and injured.
The man who was killed was identified by Lake County Coroner Howard Cooper as 40-year-old Jose Ochoa-Martinez of Waukegan.
Preliminary autopsy results determined that Ochoa-Martinez died of blunt force injuries caused by a motor vehicle, according to Cooper.
Police said three of the four people injured in the incident are related to Ochoa-Martinez, including two men in their late teens and a 10-year-old girl. The fourth injured victim was described as a man in his 20s.
According to a Waukegan Police Department statement on the incident, Waukegan patrol officers responded around 11:40 p.m. to a report of a fight at the Lake County Sports Center parking lot, located in the 300 block of Oakwood Avenue on the city’s west side.
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“Upon arrival, officers located multiple victims that had been struck by the suspect vehicle,” the statement said.
Carranza was taken into custody shortly after the incident and charged with first-degree murder after a patrol officer executed a traffic stop on a damaged SUV fitting a description provided by witnesses, according to Waukegan police.
Ochoa-Martinez was transported to an area hospital, where he later died.
According to the police statement, investigators believe “that an altercation occurred in the parking lot of the sports center as a soccer match was ending,” and the confrontation ended with a 2010 GMC driving into the victims.