Addison teen gets 30 years for broad daylight murder near police station
A teen will spend 30 years in prison for his role in a fatal shooting at a crowded Addison strip mall after he mistakenly accused the victim of being in a rival gang.
Matthew C. Cruz, 16, received the sentence Thursday after pleading guilty to aggravated battery with a firearm. A co-defendant, Jhony Aragon, also 16, is serving a 22-year prison term for first-degree murder.
The shooting - in broad daylight across the street from the police station - left 14-year-old Francisco J. Baiza dead.
Gunfire rang out about 4 p.m. Aug. 21, 2007, after the defendants approached Francisco in the parking lot of the Green Meadows Shopping Center, 110 W. Lake St., Addison.
The three boys all lived in Addison. At the time, an unarmed Francisco was with his friends - including Cruz's younger brother. Francisco was applying for a job in one of the shops but came back outside to retrieve his Social Security card.
Prosecutor Steven Knight said Aragon and Cruz both opened fire, each discharging a .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun, after accusing Francisco of being a rival gang member. Knight said Baiza did not have any gang ties known to authorities.
"(Cruz) was wrong, dead wrong," Knight said.
Aragon's gun fired one bullet, likely toward the ground, as he took it out of a bag. Cruz fired three to five times, standing as close at 10 feet from the victim.
Francisco died after being shot three times in the chest and stomach. Police soon tracked down Aragon and Cruz in a nearby apartment complex. Detectives also recovered both handguns in a closet.
Knight said both teens made videotaped statements to police in which they admitted taking part in the shooting, which they said was not planned.
DuPage Circuit Judge Blanche Hill Fawell presided over Thursday's plea deal in Wheaton.
The teens have been in custody at the DuPage County youth home since the deadly shooting. Though both defendants are minors, the law requires prosecutors to charge them as adults because they were 15 at the time of the murder. They could not face a possible death sentence because of their young ages.