Two 15-year-olds charged in slaying
It was supposed to be Francisco J. Baiza's first day at Addison Trail High School.
Instead, his family gathered Wednesday to make the 14-year-old Addison boy's funeral arrangements.
Authorities said gang violence claimed Francisco's life and the futures of two 15-year-old boys accused of opening fire on him in broad daylight at a busy Lake Street shopping center.
The defendants, Jhony Aragon and Matthew C. Cruz, will make their first appearance in DuPage County bond court this morning.
The Addison teens are charged with first-degree murder. The law requires prosecutors to try them as adults -- which means they may face the rest of their lives in prison.
"I hate to charge 15-year-old boys," DuPage State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said. "But they're adults in the eyes of the law. This is what happens when you join a gang. You are bound for two destinations -- the graveyard or the penitentiary."
The gunfire rang out about 4 p.m. Tuesday when, witnesses told police, the two defendants approached Francisco in the parking lot of the Green Meadows Shopping Center, 110 W. Lake Street, near the police station.
At the time, an unarmed Francisco was with his friends -- including one of the defendant's brothers. One of the youths had just filled out a job application in a nearby shop.
The defendants accused Francisco of being in a rival gang. Francisco was in another gang, authorities said, but he denied any ties when confronted.
Prosecutors said both defendants then opened fire, each discharging a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Francisco was shot three times in the chest and stomach.
Both young suspects ran away. Rescuers rushed the injured teen to Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare, where he was pronounced dead. Addison police detectives tracked down Aragon and Cruz in a nearby apartment complex and recovered both handguns.
Police continued Wednesday patrolling neighborhoods in which both rival gangs are known to hang out. There weren't any acts of retaliation reported.
"If there's going to be justice for this crime," Birkett said, "it's going to come in a courtroom and not on the street."