Palatine teen sentenced to 12 years in prison for 2017 shooting
A Palatine teen charged in a 2017 gang-related shooting in Palatine that prompted authorities to put nearby schools on a soft lockdown for more than two hours pleaded guilty Tuesday.
In exchange for pleading guilty to aggravated battery and discharging a firearm, Diego Garcia-Cordero, 17, of the 0-100 block of Dundee Quarter, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $734 in fines.
Responding to a report of shots fired about 11 a.m. on May 12, 2017, outside a condominium clubhouse on Randville Drive, police found two teenage boys with leg injuries that were not life-threatening, authorities said.
According to a witness, five people of high school age - three girls and two boys all wearing backpacks - approached the victims. The witness heard five or six gunshots and saw the five people run east toward Palatine High School, authorities said.
Although he was 16 at the time of the shooting, Garcia-Cordero was charged as an adult. He received credit for 502 days in custody, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney David Weiner.
Garcia-Cordero must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.