The attorney for a Bridgeview man charged with attempted murder in connection with a shooting in a Madison Street parking lot on Oct. 21 told a Cook County Circuit Court judge that his client was acting in self-defense when he pulled the trigger.
Francisco Munoz, 22, reportedly fired between five and 10 rounds at a 23-year-old Chicago man, hitting him four times, in the Constitution Court parking lot in the 7400 block of Madison Street at about 2:15 a.m. on Oct. 21.
According to the prosecutor, the bullets struck the victim in the hip, arm, hand and buttocks from a distance of about 20 feet. He remains hospitalized but in serious condition, according to police.
The victim’s mother, who along with the victim’s brother attended Munoz’s bond hearing at the Maybrook courthouse on Oct. 27, told the Review that her son had been shot from behind. According to his mother, the victim has already undergone three surgeries and was scheduled for a fourth.
Munoz’s lawyer, Todd McCutcheon told Judge Paula Daleo that the victim had first pointed a gun at his client.
“My client was defending himself against deadly force,” said McCutcheon, who asked that Munoz be released on a personal recognizance. While the prosecution asked for a high bond amount in addition to special conditions, Daleo set Munoz’s bond at $75,000 plus electronic monitoring.
“My son never had a gun,” said the victim’s mother. “He wasn’t a troublemaker. I never expected this.”
Munoz had a valid concealed-carry license, according to the prosecutor. Munoz, said the prosecutor, presented the ID card to police, who responded to the area after Munoz, the victim and their friends were kicked out of Doc Ryan’s, 7432 Madison St., following an altercation inside the bar.
A verbal altercation inside the bar turned physical, said the prosecutor, when Munoz struck the victim. Police responded to the scene and talked to those involved before leaving to respond to an unrelated shots-fired call on Washington Street, leaving the feuding parties in the parking lot.
The prosecutor alleged that Munoz confronted the victim after police left, throwing up gang signs before removing a handgun from his waistband and pointing it at the victim before firing.
McCutcheon disputed those facts, saying his client did not throw up gang signs. Rather, McCutcheon said that while police were interviewing both parties in the parking lot, the victim’s friends threatened to shoot his client. Shortly after, vehicle drove at his client, almost hitting him.
The victim got out of that car, McCutcheon said, and pointed a gun at his client, who then retrieved his own handgun from his vehicle and fired at the victim in self-defense.
The prosecutor also told Daleo that police recovered Munoz’s handgun later that day. A resident that morning reportedly overheard two men moving a trash can in the alley, with one of them saying, “Dump it. We’ll come back later.”
When someone came back later that day to recover the gun, police had already retrieved it. However, a witness took a photo of a van driven to the location, and police traced the license plates to Munoz’s mother.
Police set up surveillance on the van and took Munoz into custody on Oct. 26 on the campus of Morton College in Cicero.
Munoz will appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 2 at Maybrook.
Police had been tight-lipped about the investigation since the incident, but Deputy Police Chief Michael Keating asked residents to be patient, because the case remains under investigation.
“Sometimes we have to keep our cards close to the chest when we’re working something,” Keating said. “You can blow a whole case if you give out too much information.”
Keating praised members of the department’s midnight shift and investigations division for their work on the case.
“They’ve been working this non-stop since it happened,” Keating said.
