Afternoon Briefing: Man sentenced for girl shot while crossing the street with her mother in Little Village
A judge sentenced a man to 20 years in prison today after he pleaded guilty to murder in the 2022 slaying of an 8-year-old girl who was shot while crossing the street with her mother in Little Village. Xavier Guzman pleaded guilty in 2023, but received his punishment after the case against his co-defendant, Emilio Corripio, 20, resolved with a guilty plea in March.
On Jan. 22, 2022, Melissa Ortega walked hand-in-hand with mother around West 26th Street and South Pulaski Road when, according to prosecutors, Corripio fired shots after seeing a gang rival flash a hand sign. Corripio then got into a car driven by Guzman to buy sandwiches and drinks without 'a care in the world,' prosecutors said at a 2022 hearing.
Then 16 and on juvenile probation, Corripio was a self-admitted member of the Latin Kings who opened fire in broad daylight at rival Two-Six gang members. He hit his target, but he also shot Melissa in the head.
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A Will County landlord was sentenced 53 years in prison Friday for the murder of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the attempted murder of the boy's mother in October 2023, an attack a jury found to be a hate crime spurred by the war in Gaza. Read more here.
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