Crime & Law
Murder Charges Filed Weeks After Man Fatally Shot on CTA Train
Leighton Criminal Court Building (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
A Chicago man will remain held in custody after being charged with a fatal shooting following a fight onboard a CTA train last month.
Pedro Villarreal, 34, was ordered detained at Cook County Jail pending trial after he was charged Monday with first-degree murder, aggravated battery and other felony charges stemming from the Dec. 23 shooting on a Pink Line train that left one man dead and another injured.
According to Cook County prosecutors, Villarreal was riding the train around 1:20 a.m. in the 100 block of North Wells Street when he got into a verbal argument with a 44-year-old man.
Villarreal allegedly pulled out a knife and attempted to stab the other man as they fought on the train. Prosecutors said another passenger, a 23-year-old man, attempted to intervene and pulled out a gun, which he used to strike Villarreal in the head.
As he did so, he dropped the firearm, which Villarreal allegedly grabbed and fired a shot, striking the 23-year-old in the wrist. As that man fled into another train car, prosecutors said, Villarreal pointed the gun at the 44-year-old and shot him once in the chest, killing him.
Prosecutors said investigators used facial recognition technology and surveillance photos to identify Villarreal, who was also identified in a photo array by the 23-year-old victim, who survived.
After Chicago police issued a “seeking to identify” bulletin, a sergeant in Cicero recognized Villarreal as someone he’d had dozens of interactions with in recent years. On Saturday, Cicero police found Villarreal riding a bike and took him into custody, prosecutors said.
Villarreal was allegedly still carrying the firearm with him, and subsequent testing matched it with a shell casing recovered on the train car, according to prosecutors.
