Man charged with fatal shooting of Jeanette Laureano during gang confrontation in Belmont Gardens

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 16:33:42 -0500

By SIMONE ALICEA
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Emmanuel Raya | Chicago Police

A man has been charged with shooting Jeanette Laureano to death last month in the Belmont Gardens neighborhood on the Northwest Side in a conflict between rival gangs.

Emmanuel Raya, 32, faces one count of first-degree murder for fatally shooting the 24-year-old Laureano on March 18, according to court documents.

Laureano and her cousin, both Spanish Cobra members, drove into the city from the suburbs that evening to pick up friends, prosecutors said.

Laureano stayed in the car after they stopped about 5:20 p.m. outside of a store at 2759 N. Kilbourn, prosecutors said. While her cousin and friends walked toward the store, someone in a passing vehicle began to yell gang slogans at the cousin, who responded with gang signs and slogans.

Raya, a Maniac Latin Disciple, was then seen getting out of a black Mercedes, according to court documents. He walked up to Laureano's car and shot her multiple times in the chest while she sat in the front seat.

Laureano was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead from multiple gunshot sounds at 6:36 p.m., according to prosecutors and the Cook County medical examiner's office. She lived in the 2200 block of North Nagle.

Raya then got into the back seat of the Mercedes, which sped away from the scene, prosecutors said. But a witness was able to take down the car's license plate number, which was registered to Raya's cousin.

There was also surveillance footage from the store of the shooting, and multiple witnesses identified Raya as the shooter, prosecutors said.

Raya was ordered held without bond Friday, and is next scheduled to appear in court April 27.

Emmanuel Raya | Homicide Watch Chicago

Man charged with fatal shooting of Jeanette Laureano during gang confrontation in Belmont Gardens