Melissa Ortega shooting: 2 accused in murder of girl, 8, in Little Village denied bond

CHICAGO (WLS) — A 16-year-old boy and a man charged in a shooting that killed 8-year-old Melissa Ortega in Little Village over the weekend were denied bond in a court appearance Thursday.

The shooting happened in the middle of the afternoon Saturday as police said gunfire was exchanged between rival gang members in the 3900-block of West 26th Street.

Ortega, 8, was caught in the crossfire and was shot in the head twice as she crossed the street with her mother.

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After days of combing surveillance video and tracking witnesses, police arrested two people.

Police said video shows it was the 16-year-old boy who fired the bullets that hit Ortega. The 16-year-old, identified by prosecutors as Emilio Corripio, has charged with first degree murder and attempted murder. He is being charged as an adult.

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The alleged getaway driver, Xavier Guzman, 27, is charged with murder, attempted murder and unauthorized use of a weapon, Brown said.

Guzman was taken into custody Monday after homicide investigators pulled over a Toyota Camry believed to have been used in Saturday’s shooting on 26th Street near Pulaski Road.

Corropio was on juvenile probation after pleading guilty to two carjackings and possession of a stolen vehicle, police said.

“You failed this child. You’re failing this city. That’s from the State’s Attorney’s Office to the judges and anybody that had anything to do with that paperwork in letting this young man out,” said Andrew Holmes, community activist.

The suspect was behind the wheel and a loaded gun was found in the driver’s side door, according to a police report.

Prosecutors say a second child was nearly shot in the incident. A nearby vehicle was riddled with bullets, but thankfully the occupants – a father and his 9-year-old daughter – were not struck.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said he went to Ortega’s mother to personally deliver the news of the arrests.

“Our city has been shaken and we can’t make sense of this tragedy,” Brown said.

As they described the shooting in great detail, police said the bullets were intended for a 29-year-old man who was also shot.

But it was the agony of Ortega’s mother’s own written words, read by a pastor from the community in Little Village, that delivered a gut punch. Even with her words read by someone else, the mother’s pain was palpable.

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“Moments before the incident happened, Melissa asked me, ‘Mom, can you buy me a hamburger?’ To which I replied, ‘Of course. Do you want it now, or after we go to the bank?'” Pastor Matt DeMateo said, reading the words of Aracely Leaños, Ortega’s mother. “‘We can go later, I’m not that hungry right now. But do you promise to buy it for me?’ In that moment, I promised her I would buy her that hamburger. However, I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to fulfill that promise. My daughter stopped holding my hand, and without explanation, I found her on the floor with a puddle of blood and a bullet to her head.”

Her words landed, as they were likely intended, as a wake-up call to the city’s leaders.

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“As a mother myself, it’s hard for me to imagine the pain that Aracely feels,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said. “That will haunt her, no doubt, for the rest of her days.”

Melissa Ortega was a third-grader at Zapata Academy. Family said she had just arrived in Chicago from Mexico back in August, trying to live out the American Dream.

Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report