6-year sentence in Elgin shooting

An 23-year-old Elgin man was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for a 2009 altercation in which his co-defendant shot at a car.

At the time of the shooting, Martin Zavala, of the 400 block of Center Street, also was on probation for concealment of a homicide in the death 29-year-old Juan Fernandez of Elgin.

Fernandez was found shot in the neck in his car in Streamwood on Sept. 17, 2006.

Kane County Judge Karen Simpson sentenced Zavala to four years in prison Thursday after he was convicted last March of aggravated discharge of a firearm. He faced up to 15 years on that charge.

He also got two more years for violating his probation from the Fernandez death case. The sentences will be served one after the other.

Authorities said that at about 6 p.m. Jan. 20, 2009, Zavala was driving a red Ford Explorer and dropped off Abraham Robelo, 20, of the 1200 block of Sebring Circle on Jefferson Street in Elgin.

As the victims drove by, Robelo fired and the bullet hit the victims’ vehicle causing damage, but no one was injured. Zavala and Robelo were stopped by police about 45 minutes later.

This past summer, Simpson sentenced Robelo to four years’ probation, 180 days in jail and 100 hours of community service.

Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Mark Stajdohar prosecuted the case.