Man charged with shooting into Humboldt Park restaurant, killing man
Charlie Moreno | Chicago police
CHICAGO - A man is accused of shooting into a Humboldt Park restaurant where his ex-girlfriend worked, fatally striking a patron sitting at the bar Friday night.
Police said Charlie Moreno, 41, fired shots through the front window of Curramba Colombian Restaurant Bar, 2701 W. Division St., around 9:20 p.m. Friday, police said.
Moreno had once dated a 27-year-old woman who started working at the restaurant about a month ago.
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During their eight-month relationship, Moreno was physically abusive to the woman "on a daily basis," prosecutors said in court Monday. There were at least two police reports filed during the relationship, they said.
The relationship ended in June and Moreno began to stalk the woman at her new job at the restaurant, prosecutors said. He texted the woman that he was going to kill her and "shoot her at work," they said.
Three days before the shooting, the woman was riding in the backseat of a car, on her way to the restaurant, when Moreno approached and fired a gun into the car, prosecutors said. No one was wounded.
The night of the fatal attack, the woman was working at the bar of the restaurant and stepped out to have a cigarette when she saw Moreno drive up and begin to fire, prosecutors said.
One of the shots struck a 50-year-old man, who was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead, police said. He has not yet been identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Moreno fled but was arrested roughly an hour later in the 3300 block of West Augusta Boulevard after his car was involved in a traffic crash 12 blocks from the scene, according to police.
He was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and armed habitual criminal, all felonies.
Moreno has a "significant" criminal background, according to prosecutors.
At the time of the Friday shooting, he was on parole for aggravated battery with a firearm, for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In that case, Moreno shot a man twice in the chest and once in the face after trying to rob him, prosecutors said.
Moreno was convicted of the same charge in 2003 and sentenced to six years. In that case, he was arguing with a person using a pay phone, then shot the person in the leg and "callously walked away," prosecutors said.
A judge Monday ordered Moreno to be held without bond.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.