On an evening in late May, 2021, 46-year-old Samuel Ortiz-Rodriguez of Aurora was standing outside a residence talking with a few individuals. At that moment, three street-gang members from a nearby neighborhood walked by and mistakenly identified him as a member of a rival gang. One of the gang members shot him dead.
Fidel Bello, 19, the street gang member who shot Ortiz-Rodriguez, has now pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
On May 24, 2021 at 7:30 p.m., Bello and two fellow members of the same street gang went in search of rival gang members. Bello was armed with a revolver. While walking through a part of Aurora that was considered to be territory of a rival gang, they spotted individuals outside of a residence. A co-defendant, 19-year-old Cesar Ponce, pointed out those individuals, one of them being Ortiz-Rodriguez. Bello then shot and killed Ortiz-Rodriguez. Ortiz-Rodriguez was not a street gang member.
“Mr. Bello and Mr. Ponce wereon a mission to kill a rival gang member that evening,” said Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Lori Anderson about the verdict. “Samuel Ortiz-Rodriguez, while not specifically their target as they were out hunting, was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Judge David P. Kliment accepted the plea and set Bello’s next court appearance for May 31, 2023 at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom 305 at the Kane County Judicial Center for sentencing.
Bello faces a minimum sentence of 20 years of imprisonment in the Illinois Department of Corrections for first-degree murder, with the possibility of an additional 25 years to natural life for personally firing the weapon that caused Ortiz-Rodriguez’s death.
A jury convicted Ponce of the offense of first-degree murder on March 2, 2023. Ponce’s next court appearance is scheduled for May 3, 2023 at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom 305 at the Kane County Judicial Center for motions and sentencing. Ponce faces a minimum sentence of 35 years in prison.
