Second Aurora Gang Member in 2015 Incident Pleads Guilty to Gun Offense

kanecountyconnects / April 25, 2016 / Comments Off / 16th Judicial Circuit Court, Crime and Safety, Kane County State's Attorney's Office

A second Aurora street gang member is headed to prison for unlawfully possessing a handgun in a July 2015 incident.

Rene Muro, 23, of the 300 block of Beach Street, Aurora, on Friday, April 15, 2016, agreed to a sentence of six years and seven months in the Illinois Department of Corrections in exchange for a guilty plea to unlawful possession of a firearm by a street gang member, a Class 2 felony.

Circuit Judge Donald M. Tegeler Jr. accepted the plea.

Prosecutors presented evidence that at about 7:20 p.m. July 11, 2015, two Aurora police officers who were inside an unmarked police car and working undercover in the vicinity of Parker Avenue and Pearl Street on Aurora’s near east side saw Muro and co-defendant Erik J. Esparza. The defendants, both street gang members, were acting suspiciously.

As the undercover vehicle approached the defendants to investigate, Muro took a firing stance and appeared to point something at one of the officers, and Esparza raised a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and pointed it directly at one of the officers. The officer, fearing for his life, fired two shots at Esparza. No one was hit. Muro and Esparza immediately fled on foot. Muro was captured nearby, and although the officers did not actually see a firearm in Muro’s hands, his .357 Magnum revolver was recovered a short distance away. Police found Esparza about 90 minutes later.

According to Illinois law, Muro is eligible for day for day credit. He was given credit for 279 days served in the Kane County jail, where he has been held since his arrest.

Esparza was convicted in February by a Kane County jury of unlawful possession of a firearm by a street gang member, a Class 2 felony, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a Class 2 felony, and aggravated assault, a Class A misdemeanor. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.

The case was prosecuted by the prosecution team of Kane County Assistant State’s Attorneys Joseph Cullen and Alexander Bederka.

SOURCE: Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office news release. To follow news releases directly from the SAO, visit the State’s Attorney’s website and Facebook page.