Police Chief: Gang Problem Diminished

In the months following the alleged gang-related murder of a Des Plaines man, Chief James Prandini said gang activity has subsided.

as he faces a charge of first-degree murder of Eliseo Mercado, 26, of Des Plaines. Mercado was shot and killed in a parking lot at 2019 Pine St. at 10:30 p.m. on July 22.

Prandini said the last gang-related killing was about three years ago, and it was not as much of a clear-cut, gang-related murder as this one appears to be.

“It wasn’t people throwing up gang signs and having a lot of graffiti painted in rival neighborhoods, and this was an ultimate showdown,” Prandini said. “This was more of a dispute over a girl; they just both happened to be gang members.”

When asked if there was a growing gang problem in Des Plaines Prandini said there is no indication of that.

“Actually I think this [incident] has done something to diminish the problem,” Prandini said. “The incident that took place here has been brewing for a while, for a couple years.”

Prandini said a handful of Latin Kings versus a handful of Imperial Gangsters have been having problems with each other for a couple years, and it culminated in this incident.

“It has really died down since this happened,” Prandini said. “We really have no indication of anybody hanging out, and a lot of the problems we saw before this took place are just gone now.”

The police chief remains optimistic.

“Hopefully this was the final blow, and there’s no other retaliation that’s going to take place,” Prandini said. “There’s no guarantee obviously, but we have not seen anything that indicates that there’s going to be a future problem here.”

Earlier:

Prandini said the teen was not initially charged with murder because the State’s Attorney’s Office wanted police to develop more information.

Felony juvenile charges were initially filed against him: aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Those charges were approved within a couple days of him being taken into custody in July.

“They wanted us to gather some more information to solidify the case before they would be able to charge him with murder as an adult,” Prandini said. “We were able to satisfy those requests by the State’s Attorney’s Office, and they ultimately upgraded the charges.”

Prandini said he didn’t want to get into specifics of the case due to the pending trial, but he said the information the State’s Attorney's Office requested was developed by the investigators who were working the case since the call came out. He said detectives, tactical officers and members of the major case assistance team, which is the major crimes task force the department participates in, worked together on the case.

When asked if he was surprised the suspect was so young, Prandini said, “Yes and no.”

He said police have identified several people who are considered juveniles to be hanging out with the two different gangs in town.

“So am I surprised he was so young? No,” Prandini said. “I mean he’s been hanging out with these guys for awhile, and this is the path he’s chosen at such a young age to ruin his life with. And it’s unfortunate that a person that was once considered a pretty good kid has turned into a murderer.”

The suspect’s next court date is Nov. 18 at Skokie courthouse. 

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