A Chicago man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 2023 shootings of three men in the Ashburn community.
Vilmer Alcaraz, 32, of the 2700 block of West 59th Street, was arrested June 20 at 3:15 p.m. in the 5700 block of South Cicero Avenue by Chicago Police and U.S. Marshal’s Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force.
The victims – aged 28, 34 and 38 – were sitting in a car in the 8300 block of South Pulaski Road in the 8th District when they were shot on November 10, 2023.
Police say the victims were sitting in a car outside a small grocery store near 83rd and Pulaski when they were shot. Alcaraz allegedly shot them after a dispute over a $2,300 payment for concrete work at his sister’s home.
Prosecutors at his first court hearing on Sunday said Alcaraz shot the men shortly after receiving a text from one of the victims asking: “Are you going to pay the money or not?”
The men, identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office as Juan Marrufo, 34; Fernando Patino, 28; and Carlos Orozco, 38, were found slumped in their vehicle on Pulaski about 4:25 p.m. by responding officers. Investigators recovered a cell phone on one of the victims that had been communicating with a number linked to Alcaraz, and Alcaraz’s sister’s address was found in a notebook also recovered in the vehicle. One of the victims was a neighbor of Alcaraz’s sister.
According to prosecutors, Alcaraz, 32, was seen on surveillance video the morning of the shooting arriving at his place of work wearing a gray puffer coat, dark pants and white and gray shoes. He then gets into a transport van that he uses for work and that only he drives.
Later that day, the transport van was seen on surveillance video outside his sister’s house, near the scene of the shooting. Alcaraz was captured on his sister’s cameras wearing the gray puffer and dark-colored pants. His face was clearly visible, prosecutors said.
Footage later captured Alcaraz leaving his sister’s house — wearing the same clothes — and walking through a nearby alley, where he pulled up the hood of his coat. The individual in the puffer is seen on surveillance footage walking toward Pulaski, where the men were inside a Buick Enclave.
The person in the gray puffer coat — which prosecutors believe to be Alcaraz — is seen on surveillance footage walking up to the Buick and talking with the men before pulling out a gun, firing several shots and fleeing.
Investigators recovered six spent .40-caliber shell casings and two live rounds inside the Enclave. Phone records from one of the victims showed several communications with Alcaraz in the hours leading up to the slayings. The notebook recovered in the vehicle showed the parties had agreed to $2,300 for concrete work at Alcaraz’s sister’s house.
A warrant for Alcaraz’s arrest was approved on Jan 30, 2024.
When he was arrested on Friday, Alcaraz allegedly admitted to the shooting, but said that it was done in self-defense because one of the men in the Buick had a gun on his lap, prosecutors said.
The public defender said Alcaraz was a life-long resident of Cook County who worked at a senior-living facility.
Alcaraz was ordered to be held at Cook County Jail. His next scheduled court date will be Wednesday.