Prosecutor: Heated exchanges on social media preceded fatal Schaumburg stabbing
A 17-year-old was held on $350,000 cash bail Tuesday on charges he fatally stabbed an unarmed Elgin teen during a fight in September outside a Schaumburg home.
Guillermo Perez-Moreno is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 18-year-old Manuel Porties Jr.
Perez-Moreno, whose attorney says he acted in self-defense, must post the entire bail amount to be released from custody. He is being held in a juvenile detention facility but is being charged as an adult.
The murder charge marks a reversal by the Cook County state's attorney's office, which - over police objections - initially declined to prosecute Perez-Moreno, citing insufficient evidence. Investigators argued murder was the appropriate charge and worked to uncover evidence to support it, according to Schaumburg police officials.
Perez-Moreno, whose hometown was not given, and Porties were "friends who periodically engaged in marijuana purchases" with others, but their friendship had soured over an August purchase, Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Lorna Amado-Chevlin said.
On Sept. 28, both teens were at a Schaumburg residence. After Porties left for the home of another friend, Perez-Moreno became angry and referred to Porties as "opps," meaning opposition or enemy, Amado-Chevlin said.
Perez-Moreno subsequently recorded himself following Porties in a vehicle, threatening and taunting him on social media, Amado-Chevlin said.
After Porties became aware of the posts, heated exchanges unfolded between the teens on social media and over the phone, Amado-Chevlin said, adding that each threatened to harm the other. During one conversation, Perez-Moreno laid a knife on his lap, she said.
After the conversation ended, Perez-Moreno "made a statement indicating he was going to kill that man," she said.
About 6 p.m., Porties went to a Schaumburg residence to engage in what he believed would be a fist fight with Perez-Moreno, Amado-Chevlin said. Perez-Moreno exited the home armed with a knife and the two taunted each other, she said.
Perez-Moreno stabbed Porties several times about the body and Porties struck him in the face with his fist, she said, adding that "during the altercation it appeared that the defendant was attempting to hide the view of the knife from the victim."
After Porties collapsed to the ground, Perez-Moreno stood over him, struck him again, spat on him and fled, she said. Witnesses captured the fight on cellphone video, which police subsequently recovered.
Porties died from his injuries at Amita Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village. Prosecutors say Perez-Moreno returned to his home, changed his clothes and discarded the knife. He was arrested later that evening, prosecutors said.
Assistant Cook County Public Defender Caroline Glennon offered a different version of the altercation.
"This has been mutual combat from day one," she said. "It was mutual combat when the state declined to prosecute in September."
"The evidence being proffered today is only part of the evidence," Glennon said. "He (Perez-Moreno) was defending himself in a fight."
Porties' father, Manuel Porties Sr., expressed disappointment at the cash bond, saying he wanted Perez-Moreno held without bail.
"There's no way on God's green earth this boy should have a bond," he said. "We're appalled by that bond."
Perez-Moreno next appears in court on Dec. 3.