Murder charges have been approved for a man accused of fatally shooting a three-year-old boy during a road rage incident on September 30, 2022, in Chicago, Illinois.
The victim in the case was identified as Mateo Zastro, and the suspect has been identified as 32-year-old Govanni Hernandez of Berwyn, CWB Chicago reported Saturday. The outlet noted prosecutors have just recently approved the charges against the man.
He is now facing two counts of murder and a single count of attempted murder in the case.
Authorities said DNA evidence, witness testimony, and police work helped officers find and arrest the suspect, per ABC 7.
The Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) Chief of Detectives, Antoinette Ursitti, said during a press conference, “I want to commend the Area One detectives for everything they put into this case and the work they did to apprehend this violent offender who, for two years, cowardly went on with his life”:
On Friday, Judge Deidre Dyer ordered the suspect be detained as a safety risk, the CWB Chicago article said before detailing the shooting:
Hernandez accompanied his wife as she bought a gun at an Oak Forest firing range on September 27, 2022, and then waited the mandatory 72 hours to pick it up, Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord Rodgers said. Video at the gun range showed Hernandez and his wife leaving the range with the gun just before 8 p.m. on the night of the shooting, Rodgers said. In the video, Hernandez wore a #33 Scottie Pippen jersey and a black bucket hat. A witness would later remember that the gunman wore the same jersey.
When the couple returned to the city, the two were apparently driving separate vehicles. The pair merged in front of the child’s mother in a construction zone near Marquette and Cicero, and that was when an alleged road rage incident occurred.
Moments later, the suspect pulled over and allegedly got something out of his car’s trunk. A surveillance camera reportedly recorded the sound of a gun slide being racked.
As the boy’s mother drove around the block, Hernandez pulled into an alleyway. When she passed by, he drove out and allegedly opened fire on the van. The CWB Chicago report said another camera filmed the incident.
“One of the bullets struck Mateo in the back of his head. His mother, his 6-year-old brother, and sisters, ages 10 and 14, escaped injury,” the outlet noted.
Hernandez then abandoned his own vehicle and allegedly escaped in one that might have belonged to his wife. The suspect reportedly has a 2016 conviction for possession of methamphetamine.
“CPD’s chief detective said the DNA test results linking Hernandez to the car came back last August, but prosecutors called for further investigation before approving charges,” the CWB Chicago report noted.
To honor the child, city leaders renamed part of South Kildare Street “Honorary Mateo Zastro Way,” ABC 7 reported Friday.
Breitbart News reported on July 15 that at least 36 people were shot and six of them died over that weekend in Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Chicago.