A migrant suspected of being a member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is accused of a brutal homicide in Chicago’s South Shore, the place prosecutors say he shot one other migrant within the head because the sufferer begged for his life and later bragged that he had the physique buried in concrete at a building web site.
Choose Shauna Boliker known as the killing “brazen and cold-blooded” as she granted a petition to maintain 25-year-old Jose Coronado-Meza detained pending trial.
Assistant State’s Lawyer Mike Pekara mentioned Coronado-Meza stormed into an condo within the 7500 block of South South Shore Drive with two accomplices on the night of June 22, 2025, and confronted 31-year-old Gregori Arias. Arias and three buddies had been hanging out within the unit after spending the day on the seaside.
The intruders tried to tug Arias out of the unit, however he resisted, pulled out his ID card, and insisted he had no issues with them, mentioned Pekara. One of many accomplices proceeded to shoot Arias within the chest, knocking him to the ground. As Arias lay bleeding, one other confederate lifted his shirt to disclose a scar and informed Arias he was liable for it. Prosecutors mentioned Arias begged for his life and requested the group to name an ambulance.
As a substitute, Coronado-Meza allegedly walked up, pressed a handgun to the left facet of Arias’s head, and executed him.
Moments later, the three males fled as sirens approached the world. The witnesses additionally left, with Arias’s physique mendacity face-up on the lounge flooring close to a radiator.
The subsequent morning, one witness mentioned, the condo had been cleaned. One other witness went to police that morning to report the homicide. Primarily based on the witness’s account, they secured a warrant for the condo.
Proof technicians used BlueStar know-how to search out hidden blood beneath laminate flooring and on a radiator cowl. DNA testing linked the blood samples to Arias’s toothbrush.
On July 6, Coronado-Meza was arrested for allegedly possessing a gun with a drum journal.
On the time of his arrest, police seized his mobile phone and located a video recorded within the condo on the day after police executed the search warrant, in response to Pekara. He mentioned the video confirmed a number of flooring panels lacking within the actual places the place proof technicians had eliminated them to check for blood. The video additionally depicted the identical lounge furnishings and the bed room with pink partitions that police had documented whereas processing the scene.
Whereas in custody, Coronado-Meza allegedly confessed to a different inmate, saying he “completed off” Arias as a result of he wouldn’t cease crying. Coronado-Meza allegedly informed the inmate he had a building contact who may eliminate our bodies, and that Arias had been entombed in concrete.
Witnesses later recognized Coronado-Meza because the shooter. One other lady mentioned she noticed him exterior the constructing with a suitcase shortly after the killing.
Coronado-Meza is charged with first-degree homicide, concealing a homicidal demise, two counts of aggravated illegal restraint, and aggravated illegal possession of a weapon. His background consists of retail theft arrests, a pending misdemeanor hashish case, and the pending gun cost.
In 2023, Gregori Arias was featured in a Block Membership Chicago article about migrants who had established a barber store in Pritzker Park, subsequent to the Customary Membership migrant shelter within the Loop.
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