CHICAGO (WLS) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested alleged shooters involved in a deadly mass shooting at a house party on Chicago’s Southwest Side in December 2024, the ABC7 I-Team has learned.
Three people were killed and five others were injured in the shooting on December 2.
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“They were pointing their guns at me and my husband, they knocked him down to the ground,” Maria Occhipinti said in Spanish.
The I-Team spoke to Occhipinti, the mother of Edward Martinez-Cermeno’s girlfriend, back in January moments after he was ordered released from custody, reliving their encounter with ICE during a Schaumburg immigration raid when Martinez-Cermano was initially taken into custody.
“They just left without an explanation,” Occhipinti said. “They didn’t show many any documents. We were scared, we’re all in crisis.”
Now the 24-year-old Martinez-Cermeno is back in ICE custody, accused of being a gunman in a deadly Gage Park area house party shooting and a member of the now infamous Tren De Aragua Venezuelan gang, along with 25-year-old Ricardo Granadillo Padilla, who was arrested by ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Authorities said Granadillo Padilla was found with a pistol and ammunition. ICE said multiple firearms, high-capacity magazines, narcotics and fraudulent documents were seized in January from Granadillo Padilla’s residence in Chicago.
Martinez-Cermeno had been living with his girlfriend’s parents, Maria and Ruben Occhipinti, the couple told the I-Team in January, before he was arrested.
However, there is no case against either Martinez-Cermeno or Granadillo Padilla listed in Cook County or federal court.
Martinez-Cermeno is facing charges for illegally entering the U.S., and ICE said Granadillo Padilla was sentenced for the same charge.
Martinez-Cermano is not listed in the available ICE locator.
Over the past several weeks, ICE claims 16 additional TdA members and associates of the shooters in the Chicago area and Raleigh, North Carolina were arrested on immigration charges.
An attorney who previously represented Martinez-Cermeno did not respond to the I-Team’s request for comment on the new allegations.
The ABC7 I-Team also reached out to Chicago police, who are not commenting on the case.
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