Aurora man guilty in mistaken ID killing

An Aurora man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a 1996 murder that was prompted by a case of mistaken identity.

Shane B. Lopez, 33, pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated discharge of a firearm in the shooting death of Curtis Thompson, 25, of Aurora, and was sentenced according to a plea bargain accepted by Kane County Circuit Judge Grant Wegner.

About midnight Jan. 25, 1996, Lopez and co-defendant Alberto Lucio, 32, of Florida, were passengers in a van traveling the area of Fulton and Ohio streets in Aurora when they saw Thompson sitting in a car. Mistaking Thompson for a rival gang member, prosecutors said, the men then fired eight gunshots into the vehicle, killing him.

The case remained unsolved until June 2007, when Lopez and Lucio were among more than 30 men indicted by a Kane County grand jury in 22 cold-case homicides. The sweep followed a massive, multiagency investigation dubbed "Operation First Degree Burn."

Under 1996 statutory guidelines, Lopez is required to serve at least half of his sentence, the state's attorney's office said. He was credited for more than a year served in the county jail.

Lucio was convicted by a jury in January and later sentenced to 32 years in prison.