Man charged in Halloween slaying

March 27, 2008Recommend (3)

BY LISA DONOVAN AND ANNIE SWEENEY Staff Reporters
Leticia Barrera’s husband had begun to give up hope that police would ever catch the person who shot the pregnant woman to death in front of her young children after a night of trick-or-treating in their Back-Of-The-Yards neighborhood.

But this afternoon authorities announced that Orlando Avila, 18, was yanked out of bed by police at his home in the 4500 block of South Wolcott Avenue this week and charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.


Orlando Avila (left) was charged with fatally shooting Leticia Barrera (upper right) on Halloween. Her husband, Manuel Flores(bottom center) answered questions following the announcement of the arrest during a press conference with Police Chief Jody Weis (left) and Ald. George Cardenas.

Neither Barrera, 32, nor her family were the intended targets of the Halloween shooting. Rather, it was part of a gang-related dispute, police said.

The arrest was the final piece of a puzzle that took months to put together. The pieces included tracking down witnesses as well as the intended targets of the shooting — captured on a blue-light camera — and then sending officers out to talk with both gang members and community members to identify the shooter.

“The most important thing ... was the help we received from the community,â€