Life sentence for Aurora gang member who killed 2
A 24-year-old Aurora man was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being found guilty last fall of gunning down a Chicago man in March 2007 who he mistakenly thought was a rival gang member.
Lorenzo I. Alvarez was already serving a 65-year sentence for another murder that occurred that same month when he was convicted of shooting Cedric Foster, 24, of Chicago, three times and killing him.
Authorities said Alvarez and two others were driving through Aurora’s southeast side just before 7 p.m. March 18, 2007, looking to find and shoot a member of a rival street gang.
The trio couldn’t find their target, so they went looking for any rival gang member and pulled up next to a car driven by Foster at the corner of Lehnertz Avenue and Sherman Street, authorities said.
Alvarez used his 9 mm handgun to shoot Foster — who was not in a gang — three times in the head.
In December 2009, Alvarez was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm for the murder of 36-year-old Oscar Campos of Aurora. Prosecutors said the March 6, 2007 murder was also gang-motivated.
The two murder convictions triggered a mandatory life sentence, which Kane County Judge Timothy Sheldon imposed.
Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon thanked Aurora police and Assistant State’s Attorneys David Belshan and Adam Katz for their hard work.
“Lorenzo Alvarez is a career criminal whose presence in the community places everyone’s safety in jeopardy,” McMahon said. “He has proven in the last two decades that he has no regard for human life and that the only appropriate place for him is behind bars for the rest of his life.”
Two other Aurora men have been charged in Foster’s slaying.
Ezequil Rivera, 27, is due in court May 17 and Miquel De La Cruz, 22, is due in court Friday. Both are being held at the Kane County jail.