Federal prosecutors have taken on the case in the 2021 killing of a National Guardsman in Chicago after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office declined to prosecute gang members in the murders.
The victim in this incident has been identified as 19-year-old National Guard soldier Chris Carbajal, who was with his family in Northwest Chicago in 2021 for an Independence Day celebration. report Saturday.
image show Young Victim:
Nearly three years after Cook County prosecutors declined to indict a man for killing a young National Guardsman on the Fourth of July, federal prosecutors have stepped in and filed federal charges against him (and a second man).https://t.co/CI7u8mJUqy
— CWB Chicago (@CWB Chicago) June 9, 2024
Police authorities sought to prosecute the case, but prosecutors argued there was insufficient evidence to do so and that officers needed more evidence. As a result, no one was ever charged with murder.
“He was serving his country, protecting his country, and not even a month after he came home you killed my brother. My family is broken. Our hearts are broken forever,” said Jennifer Ramirez, Carbajal’s sister. Said A few days after his death:
Federal prosecutors have now taken over the case, CWB Chicago reports. The outlet continues:
On Friday, the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office announced it had indicted two Milwaukee Kings gang members on racketeering and murder charges in connection with Carbajal’s death. Sources said one of the men indicted is the same man Chicago police sought to charge with murder in 2021.
Authorities said at the time that Carbajal was shot and killed by an unknown assailant around 1:20 a.m. on July 4, 2021, in the 2200 block of North Rockwood as he was leaving a family gathering and attempting to retrieve something from his vehicle.
The following month, detectives asked Cook County Prosecutor Kim Foxx to indict the then-38-year-old Milwaukee Kings gang leader on murder charges.
Police reportedly had video footage, knew witnesses, and claimed the suspect’s car and cell phone were at or near the scene at the time of the murder, but apparently that information alone was not enough to move the case forward.
In a press release on Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois Announced Two suspects have been indicted on federal charges.
Gary Roberson, 40, and Joseph Matos, 41, both of Chicago, are charged with racketeering and firearms offenses in an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The indictment accuses them of murdering Chris Carbajal on July 3, 2021, with the intent to maintain and strengthen their status in the Milwaukee Kings street gang. Carbajal, 19, was shot and killed in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on Chicago’s northwest side.
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Roberson was arrested last month and has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was ordered held in federal custody pending trial. Matos is not currently in custody and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
If the suspect is convicted of aiding and abetting organized crime, he could spend the rest of his life in prison, and the death penalty could be an option, CWB Chicago noted.
