Trial begins for man accused of gunning down two ‘for fun’
“He goes hunting— not for deer, not for elk. He goes hunting for people, specifically for young men,” Assistant State’s Attorney Karin Swanson told jurors of Ricardo Marchan (left).
When an agitated man with a rifle confronted Armando Zamora, the gunman threatened him.
“He said hewas going to kill me,” Zamora, 45, testified in Spanish on Wednesday about the Aug. 2, 2009, incident in Humboldt Park.
“I said, ‘Why?’ If I had not done anything to him? I started laughing because I didn’t think it [weapon] was real. I thought it was pretend,” Zamora said.
What Zamora didn’t know then was that Ricardo Marchan had just killed two motorists — Michael Hernandez, an 18-year-old student, and Patrick Cregan, a 35-year-old pizza delivery man — for “fun” minutes before, Cook County prosecutors said at the opening of Marchan’s trial.
“He goes hunting — not for deer, not for elk. He goes hunting for people, specifically for young men,” Assistant State’s Attorney Karin Swanson told jurors.
“There is no reason” Marchan, 31, went on the deadly spree that claimed the lives of Hernandez and Cregan, Swanson said Wednesday.
But at the time of Marchan’s arrest six years ago, police told the Chicago Sun-Times that he went on the rampage because his girlfriend broke up with him a few days before.
Assistant Public Defender Kelly McCarthy insisted her client was innocent and emphasized that there wasn’t a single eyewitness to the crimes.
Driving in his “beat up” Chevy Blazer and armed with a 9mm Winchester rifle, Marchan first gunned down Hernandez, who was driving his mom’s car, in the 1500 block of North Western Avenue, prosecutors said.
Hernandez, who was shot in the head and back, crashed into oncoming traffic near a hospital, Swanson said.
That murderous act wasn’t enough for Marchan, so he shot Cregan, who was driving to deliver a pizza, in the back of his head in the 1400 block of North California Avenue, Swanson said.
Marchan still wasn’t done, prosecutors said.
He then drove west to the 3800 block of West Dickens, where he robbed Zamora and his friend, Jireh Hernandez, on the street shortly before 5 a.m., prosecutors said.
Zamora said he was trying to park his car when he heard gunshots and then saw Marchan fighting with Jireh Hernandez. He decided to see what was going on.
Marchan asked the men for their belongings, Zamora and Jireh Hernandez testified.
When Zamora told Marchan he thought his weapon was fake, Marchan allegedly shot into the air twice.
Zamora said Marchan pointed the rifle in his face and chest and tried to punch him.
Jireh Hernandez said Marchan made him drop to the ground. “He said we were going to be f-----. He asked for my bank cards and keys to my car,” Jireh Hernandez, 29, testified in Spanish.
Zamora said he threw his wallet on the street and told Marchan, “You want it? Go get it.”
Marchan put his gun in the back seat of his vehicle and was about to pick up that wallet when police drove up, police said at the time.
That morning, as Marchan was being processed at the police station, he told officers there, “F--- it. I’ll do my time,” Chicago Police Officer Jeffrey Muehlfelder testified Wednesday.
Marchan’s trial will continue before Judge Lawrence Flood on Thursday.