CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Two men are charged with murdering a father stringing Christmas lights at his Gage Park home during a nearly five-hour crime spree during which they beat and robbed at least 13 other people, according to police.
Pedro Mendiola, 21, and Moises Barrios, 23, are charged with murdering Jose Tellez on Dec. 11 in front of the man’s young daughter, Police Supt. David Brown said Friday.
The two started robbing and beating people with a crowbar and a bat around 3:30 p.m. on the North Side and did not stop until 8 p.m. on the South Side, police said.
One of their victims was Tellez, 49, who was outside decorating his home in the 3500 block of West 58th Street when the pair drove up and approached him, Brown said.
“The offenders had a baseball bat and a crowbar and repeatedly struck him in the face and head as his young daughter watched from inside the home,” Brown said.
The two fled as the young girl tried to get her brother to help, he said. Tellez was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and pronounced dead later that evening.
Barrios was arrested the day of the murder but was only charged in one of the other robberies, Chief of Detective Brendan Deenihan said in a news conference Friday.
The arrest gave detectives access to the getaway car, where police found the weapons, Deenihan said. From those weapons, “DNA and fingerprints helped put the case together,” he said.
The pair was expected to appear for a bond hearing later Friday, where more details were expected to be released.
Shortly after his murder, family and neighbors held a vigil for Tellez and said they were creating a neighborhood watch program to combat crime.
“He was someone you always relied on,” Tellez’s niece Daisy Torres said then. “He loved to dance and parties, and was a very funny person.”
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2022. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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