By John Carpenter and Rummana Hussain
The thug life was all around Jose Ibarra, who sprinkled his artwork with anti-gang messages and calls for peace. Gang-bangers in his Gage Park neighborhood hassled him regularly.
Jose Ibarra
Now, he’s dead.
Jose Ibarra, 20, was killed early Sunday morning in a back-alley fight as he came to the aid of his younger brother, who prosecutors said was fighting with members of the Latin Kings.
A Hobart, Ind., man has been charged with first-degree murder, accused of running over and crushing Jose Ibarra with his truck. Wencesiao Arriaga was ordered held in lieu of $1.5 million bail Tuesday.
Some initial media reports described the incident as a gang fight. But a police spokesman said Tuesday that Jose Ibarra did not have any documented gang ties.
“He wasn’t no gang-banger,” said Pedro Ibarra, 24. “He was a good kid… . I was his big brother, but I looked up to him like he was my big brother.”
Jose Ibarra graduated from John Hancock High School and was attending Malcolm X College, where he was studying art, his family said. Pedro Ibarra proudly showed some of his brother’s artwork, which included pictures sprinkled with anti-gang images and slogans.
The trouble Sunday started in the wee hours of the morning. Jose Ibarra, his 17-year-old brother, Juan, and other friends were hanging out in the alley behind the 5700 block of South Central Park, talking, Pedro Ibarra said.
At about 3 a.m., Arriaga and several others drove by the group in a GMC Envoy. In bond court Tuesday, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Heather Kent described what police say happened next.
Those inside the truck allegedly flashed gang signs, prompting one person who was standing in the alley to break the vehicle’s back-seat passenger window, Kent said.
Those in the truck came out and started fighting with the group in the alley and shouted “King Love!” Kent said.
When the driver of the GMC and Jose Ibarra started throwing punches, Arriaga allegedly got in truck, revved the engine and drove back and forth before he tried to plow into Jose Ibarra, causing him to fall.
He got back up and resumed brawling with Arriaga’s friend, Kent said.
That’s when he was hit and pinned under the truck.
Some others started beating Arriaga, but he was able to break free and ran away, ripping his shirt as he hopped a fence, Kent said.
Arriaga was caught by police a short time later and was identified by several witnesses, Kent said. She said surveillance cameras captured the deadly act.
Arriaga was charged with murder and aggravated battery. He has a 2011 federal conviction for cocaine distribution and was on parole for that case.
Assistant Public Defender Marijane Placek told Judge Donald Panarese Jr. on Tuesday that Arriaga was defending himself in a fight with members of the same gang.
Arriaga, who supports his two children with a job at a Culver’s restaurant, suffered stab wounds in the face and stomach, Placek said, insinuating that the main witness in the crime, Juan Ibarra, could be biased given than he is the victim’s brother.
Pedro Ibarra said family members were frustrated that his brother’s body was lying next to the wrecked car “for hours.” They think he might have been saved if he had been taken to the hospital. But Chicago Fire Department Spokesman Larry Langford said fire crews quickly extricated Ibarra’s badly injured body from the wreckage and determined that he was dead.
Ibarra’s sister, Antonia, said the outpouring of support since Sunday is a testament to her brother.
“That’s how we knew that my brother had a lot of friends,” she said. “They have been coming around, offering their support.”
Cat Zakrzewski contributed to this report.