A file photo shows a crime scene blocked off by the Chicago Police Department. (WTTW News)
A Chicago man was arrested this week some 200 miles away from the city in connection with a Christmas Day shooting that left a 24-year-old man dead in Logan Square last year.
Santi Castaneda, 22, was charged Friday with one count of first-degree murder stemming from the Dec. 25, 2021 shooting that left Giovanni Lozano dead. Lozano was not identified during a hearing Friday, but his name had previously been reported by multiple outlets.
Chicago police said Castaneda was arrested Thursday in Green Bay, more than five months after the shooting occurred.
According to Cook County prosecutors, Castaneda was attending a gathering with friends that day, when the group made their way to a home in the 3000 block of North Avers Avenue.
Once there, an acquaintance on scene told Castaneda to wait for him, as that man had to drive his girlfriend to a Christmas party for her work. Prosecutors said during this time, Castaneda was wearing a distinctive two-toned coat and could be seen on surveillance video following any vehicle that passed through the area.
Just after 10:30 p.m., a black SUV driven by Lozano drove past that area, and prosecutors said Castaneda could again be seen tracking the vehicle. The SUV can be heard honking off camera, and when it passed by the building where Castaneda was standing a second time, Castaneda allegedly raised his arm and began firing shots toward it.
Prosecutors said the SUV stopped briefly, and then continued driving until it crashed nearby, while Castaneda ran inside the building he’d been standing by. Lozano was struck in the back of his head and knee and died.
The shooting itself was captured on video, according to prosecutors, and the acquaintance on scene who had told Castaneda to wait for him identified Castaneda in eight separate still photos taken from surveillance cameras that recorded the moments just before the shooting.
Block Club Chicago reported in December that Lozano was on his way to his grandmother’s house in West Humboldt Park for a Christmas celebration when he was killed. He reportedly lived just a few blocks from where the shooting occurred.
During Friday’s hearing, a Cook County judge ordered Castaneda to be held without bail. He is due back in court June 17.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
