Man charged in July 4th weekend killing was on electronic monitoring over prosecutors' objections
An avowed gang member who allegedly shot and killed a man over the Fourth of July weekend in Little Village had been released on electronic monitoring ahead of the attack over the objections of prosecutors.
Daniel Alvarado, 20, was ordered detained Friday by Judge James Costello in the July 5 slaying of 47-year-old Moises Juarez in the 2600 block of South Central Park Avenue.
Alvarado had previously been ordered held at Cook County Jail after he was allegedly caught tossing a gun as he ran from a crashed car on March 24, court records show. Prosecutors said the car was leaving an area where shots had reportedly been fired at police.
Alvarado was later placed on electronic home monitoring in that case on May 16, records show.
In a court filing Thursday, when Alvarado was charged with murder, officials in the office monitoring his pretrial release documented a series of violations dating back to June 8.
Alvarado is accused of violating his curfew eight times, the officials said. His monitoring device also stopped reporting his location or placed him in spots away from his home over the holiday weekend.
There was a notable gap in GPS reporting from 8:09 p.m. to 10:11 p.m. July 5, after which his device was then detected outside his approved zone, the officials said. Juarez was killed around 10:10 p.m. that night.
In that time period, Alvarado was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet as he drove around Little Village, looking for someone to shoot, a Cook County prosecutor said in court Friday.
Juarez and a friend were eating at a taco stand at 27th Street and Central Park Avenue when they noticed a black Nissan pass several times, making them feel "uneasy," Assistant State's Attorney Mike Pekara said.
As they started to walk north on Central Park, Alvarado pulled up in the car with two passengers and, from the driver's seat, said "Yo," according to Pekara.
Alvarado then allegedly pulled out a black gun and began firing, fatally striking Juarez. Pekara called the shooting "completely unprovoked."
Law enforcement used witness descriptions of the shooter and police surveillance video to identify Alvarado as the shooter, Pekara said. Police used that video to locate the car, which was registered to a parent of one of the passengers in the car at the time of the shooting.
That passenger initially confessed to detectives to being the shooter, Pekara said. But the man then recanted and said Alvarado had acted alone. The other passenger, a woman, also said Alvarado acted alone and did not expect him to shoot someone.
When police arrived at Alvarado's home to arrest him Tuesday, Alvarado ran to a neighboring vacant apartment building, Pekara said. Officers found him inside, stripped down to his underwear, pretending to be confused.
Police recovered shell casings in Alvarado's home that matched the ones found at the crime scene and on the windshield of the Nissan, Pekara said.
Alvarado's defense attorney said it was possible that one of the passengers in Alvarado's car had committed the shooting. She pointed out that no firearm had been recovered from Alvarado's home.
The judge noted that Alvarado was on electronic monitoring at the time of the shooting and that the GPS bracelet places him near the scene of the crime when Juarez was killed. Costello also noted that prosecutors allegedly recovered a video from the defendant's phone that shows him handling a gun in the Nissan's driver's seat less than two hours before Juarez's slaying.
Costello said the evidence allegedly shows Alvarado "killed a stranger on the streets of Chicago for no discernible reason."
Alvarado, an avowed Two-Six gang member, was previously charged with reckless conduct in August 2024 for allegedly trying to throw a rock at a rival’s car that had been stopped by police, court records show. The case was dropped in March.
His next hearing on the murder charge is set for July 29. He is also set to appear before Judge Charles Burns in the ongoing gun case on Monday.