Cops: Party ejection led to murder of DePaul University student
'LED BY EXAMPLE' | DePaul student killed when gang members return to house party
A gang member shot up a weekend Halloween party — killing a respected 21-year-old DePaul University student — because several of the gang member’s pals were kicked out of the party earlier, Chicago Police said Wednesday.
(DePaul University)
Narcisco Gatica, 19, allegedly fired a TEC-9 semiautomatic weapon at people standing in a gangway outside the party at a home in the 1700 block of North Rockwell around 1:15 a.m. Sunday.
Gatica, a Maniac Latin Disciples member, killed DePaul political science major Francisco “Frankie” Valencia and wounded Valencia’s friend Daisy Camacho, a senior psychology major, police said. She was released from the hospital Wednesday.
Gatica and fellow gang member Berly “Billy” Valladares were charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and attempted murder. Valladares, 21, allegedly provided Gatica with the weapon.
DePaul students had rented the home on Rockwell for the Halloween party. Three Maniac Latin Disciples crashed the party and were kicked out by the students, police said. One of the ousted gang members then went to Valladares, a leader of a faction of the gang, seeking revenge, police said. Valladares, who has “Grim Reaper” and “Thug Life” tattoos, allegedly supplied Gatica with the gun.
About 45 minutes after the gang members were kicked out, Gatica pulled the gun from his waistband and opened fire outside the home, police said.
Gatica and Valladares gave videotaped confessions to Grand-Central Area detectives Mike Landando and John Valkner, police said. The shooting was captured on video-surveillance cameras. And police recovered a TEC-9 that was linked to the shooting through ballistics tests, police said.
Gatica allegedly told police he thought he was firing at a rival gang member because the person’s hat was tilted sideways the way gang members wear them. But Gatica later backed off that motive, police said.
Valencia’s mother, Joy McCormack, issued a statement Wednesday saying the family was “heartbroken” by his death.
“He led by example, volunteering at the Chicago Public Schools and for the Obama campaign, as well as traveling to Colombia on a humanitarian mission,” McCormack said. “His ambition, idealism, intelligence, enthusiasm and commitment made him a natural leader, who strived to change the world.”