- Credibility:
WEST HUMBOLDT PARK — A 23-year-old man accused of shooting three people in April opened fire on the group thinking they were disparaging him after a night of hanging out, prosecutors said in court Tuesday.
Omar Sosa, 23, of the 4400 block of West Walton Avenue, was charged with three felony counts of attempted murder and two felony counts of aggravated battery and discharge of a firearm in the April 30 shooting. A 22-year-old woman and two 23-year-old men were wounded.
Sosa was ordered held without bail Tuesday.
The shooting happened around 7:15 a.m. April 30 in the 4500 block of West Chicago Avenue. Sosa and the victims — his cousin and two friends — were at Sosa’s place drinking and smoking when Sosa’s father called and said his friends should leave because it had gotten late, prosecutors said.
The three victims left and sat in their car for a few minutes before Sosa walked up wearing a ski mask with two guns in his front waist band; he was irritated they left and accused them of “talking sh–” about him, prosecutors said.
Two of the victims shook Sosa’s hand in what a Cook County Circuit Court judge described as “an act of peace.” Then Sosa went behind the car, pulled his ski mask down and fired up to six shots at the group, seriously injuring the 22-year-old woman, prosecutors said.
Two people identified Sosa in lineups as the shooter, prosecutors said.
“I believe those identifications are solid identifications, not only based on the time that transpired between their interaction with you and the firing of the weapon, but the fact that they’ve been with you over the course of the night,” the judge said. “It’s not as though this was a 5-second opportunity to observe you. This is some person they’ve known for some time, spent some time with you.”
Sosa’s defense attorney said Sosa is a graduate of Schurz High School who works at Taco Bell and doesn’t have a criminal record. She initially said the incident could’ve been a “mutual combat situation,” given that Sosa was shot in his ankle. Prosecutors said Sosa was wounded in a separate shooting, but didn’t go into specifics.
Sosa was arrested Sunday near his home, which is on the same West Humboldt Park block where five people were shot, one fatally, Sunday evening. A 69-year-old man was killed and three other men, ages 45, 25 and 27, were wounded. The shooting brought dozens of police and SWAT officers to the otherwise quiet block, according to the Sun-Times.
At an unrelated press conference Tuesday, police officials said the Walton Avenue shooting Sunday stemmed from a family argument. Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said one person who is in custody was already wanted on separate attempted first-degree murder charges, though he did not give any details of the earlier incident nor identify the person who has been arrested.
“For the current case with all the family members that were in the dispute and were shot, we’re working closely with the State’s Attorney’s office but we still have to interview everybody involved to then secure further charges against this one individual and possibly others, as well,” Deenihan said.
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