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, one of those street gang members, has now been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
In March, Bello pled guilty to the offense of 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. After Bello’s co-defendant Cesar Ponce pointed out those individuals, one of them being Ortiz-Rodriguez, Bello shot and killed Ortiz-Rodriguez. Ortiz-Rodriguez was not a street gang member.
“Younger gang members are as dangerous and violent as the older members,” said Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Lori Anderson. “Samuel Ortiz-Rodriguez’s murder was yet another example of the senseless and unnecessary violence that street gangs perpetrate on the community. I hope the long prison sentences imposed on Fidel Bello and co-defendant Cesar Ponce send a message that there is nothing worthwhile to be gained by joining a street gang and terrorizing a community.”
A jury convicted Ponce of the offense of first-degree murder on March 2, 2023. In May, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. The third individual was not charged.
