Addison victim says shooting was over unpaid loan

An Addison man who survived being shot twice at point-blank range testified Tuesday his friend opened fire on him after he failed to repay a loan.

The 28-year-old man identified Martin Tapia-Aguilar as the shooter during a DuPage County court hearing to determine if police had enough probable cause to make the arrest.

Tapia-Aguilar, 24, of Addison, pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm charges. DuPage Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell ruled enough evidence exists based on the victim's testimony to allow the case to continue.

The defendant is accused of shooting the man in his chest and left arm about 7 p.m. Feb. 3 in a parking lot at 437 S. Addison Road in Addison.

The victim, who still has a bullet lodged in his chest, said Tapia-Aguilar loaned him $550 and had grown insistent afterward that he repay the loan.

"He was upset," the man testified. "He said he needed his money."

The night of the shooting, the man said an armed Tapia-Aguilar forced him into a nearby van after surprising him outside a store where he had stopped to buy peanuts. He said two other armed men were waiting inside the van.

The shooting victim testified Tapia-Aguilar grabbed him by the hood of his sweatshirt as he tried to escape but he managed to wiggle free. As he did, while facing Tapia-Aguilar, the man said he saw the gun's repeated "flashes" as the defendant shot him.

He estimated Tapia-Aguilar was within 6 feet of him. The man said he did not see the other two armed men, both in the van's front seat, fire their weapons. In all, the man estimated as many as a half dozen shots were fired.

Afterward, he said the men fled. He was treated at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove and was released three days later after doctors determined the bullets did not hit any vital organs.

Police later tracked down Tapia-Aguilar, nabbed out of state. The other two men remain at-large. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Addison Police Department at (630) 543-3080.

In an unrelated case, Tapia-Aguilar also is facing felony charges of delivery of a controlled substance in an alleged a December 2008 cocaine sale. He remains in the DuPage County jail on bonds totaling $350,000, meaning he needs $35,000 to be freed.

He'll be back in court June 3.