Father and son charged with fatal shooting of Melrose Park teen
SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A father and son have been charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy Sunday afternoon in west suburban Melrose Park, according to police.
Bond was denied Thursday for 22-year-old Reinaldo Collazo Jr., who faces one count of first-degree murder, according to Melrose Park police and the Cook County sheriff’s office. His father, 49-year-old Reinaldo Collazo Sr., is charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, possessing a firearm without an FOID card and obstructing justice.
Following an argument in front of Collazo Sr.’s apartment about 4:45 p.m. Sunday in the 1900 block of North 17th Avenue, the older man retrieved a firearm, went into the parking lot and fired a shot into the air before menacing the victim and his friends with the gun, police said.
Collazo Jr. then took the gun from his father and fired at least one shot, striking 16-year-old Julian Hernandez in the chest, according to police.
When officers arrived at the scene, Hernandez was bleeding on the street and being treated by citizens, police said. Hernandez, of Melrose Park, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died at 5:16 p.m., authorities said.
Collazo Sr. was arrested at the scene, police said. Collazo Jr. ran away and was arrested Wednesday in Schiller Park following an “intensive manhunt.”
Both father and son are documented gang members, as was Hernandez, police said.
Collazo Jr. is scheduled to appear in court again Monday. Court information for his father wasn’t immediately available.