Joliet Gunshot Victim In Michael Jordan Sweater Did Not Identify Shorewood Defendant As Shooter: Detective

JOLIET, IL — There is no trial testimony for Shorewood's first-degree murder defendant Jon Hansen on Friday because one of the jurors had a prior obligation. While Thursday's afternoon testimony included testimony beneficial to the defense, the day ended with scientific evidence that prosecutors hope will connect the defendant to the pair of 2024 drive-by shootings on Joliet's southeast side.

Hansen is accused in two shootings that left one man dead in Joliet Township and a second man wounded on Joliet's Davis Street. Those shootings happened the same day police believe Hansen's friend, Romeo Nance, killed seven of his family members on Joliet's West Acres Road.

Will County Sheriff's Sgt. Anselmo Vallejo took the witness stand in Courtroom 502 of Will County Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre to let the jury know about his own role investigating the day that changed Joliet: Jan. 21, 2024. As a detective, Vallejo was responsible for tracking down the whereabouts of a maroon Toyota Camry, the car that now-deceased Romeo Nance took from one of his murder victim relatives.

Joliet's west side mass murders were not known to the police until the next day. When Vallejo arrived at the 2200 block of Joliet's West Acres Road, near Glenwood and Taylor, there were "several different dead bodies," he told the jury.

Vallejo testified that the previous day, Jan. 21, he was sent to the Pheasant Run apartments in Joliet Township to investigate the murder of Nigerian immigrant Toyosi Bakare.

"It was a call for a dead body on the driveway at the complex," the bilingual detective testified.

Over the next two days, Vallejo testified, Will County and Joliet police pursued an additional suspect, "Mr. Jon Hansen."

On Jan. 24, 2024, Vallejo joined other members of his sheriff's office to meet with the lone surviving shooting victim, 44-year-old Mario Guerrero, who lives in the 200 block of Davis Street. Guerrero suffered a bullet wound to one of his legs as he was walking toward his house while carrying two packages of bottled water from his trunk. He was shot at several times, the neighbor's video surveillance cameras showed, but most of the errant gunfire struck his cars parked in the driveway and his garage. He was wearing a Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan sweater, he testified last week, and had no gang affiliation whatsoever.

Prosecutors have alleged that Hasen targeted Guerrero and Bakare because both men were wearing black and red, the colors of the Vice Lords street gang. Neither victim was actually involved in a gang, but prosecutors claim Hansen wished to kill Vice Lords.

Detective Vallejo testified he was his agency's Spanish speaking investigator, so he was summoned to help on the case during a computer-generated photo lineup.

"I spoke Spanish. Mr. Guerrero did not speak English," Vallejo told the jury.

A total of six different mugshots, including Hansen was assembled for the photo lineup and Guerrero studied all six of the faces and informed Vallejo that he did not believe any of the six — including Hansen — were the shooter, the jury was told.

Jury Learns Photo Lineup Was Forever Destroyed

Vallejo testified how he went into the shooting victim's living room and left Guerrero alone while he studied the faces contained in Will County's electronic-photo lineup.

Vallejo indicated that electronic photo lineups have become more common nowadays compared to the old-school, traditional photo lineups that involved having six men or women stand behind a glass wall and walk in front of the witness one by one.

Will County prosecutor Alexandra "Alex" Molesky asked the sheriff's detective if Guerrero picked out any of the other people as looking like his shooter.

"No, he said he did not find anybody," Vallejo testified.

From that point in his testimony, Detective Vallejo told the jury something unfortunate happened that was not supposed to involving the Will County Sheriff's Office.

"I was under the impression that it would automatically save to a cloud. Obviously, that was not the case," he answered.

Detective Vallejo testified he thought he had saved the digital photo lineup administered to Guerrero, but it turned out the photo lineup was not saved to the Internet cloud or computer hard drive. Then, to top it off, the information technology systems staff later destroyed a number of the sheriff's computers.

"I.T. destroyed several computers and hard drives for safety and security," Sgt. Vallejo testified. "I don't know why. That's above my pay grade."

Vallejo testified he was present at Joliet's Police Department during the week of January 22, 2024, when Hansen agreed to cooperate with detectives to discuss his association with Nance and the events pertaining to the drive-by shootings on Davis Street and at the Pheasant Run apartments.

Officials testify about weapons, shell casing

Vallejo testified that Hansen revealed he disposed of one of the guns into the DuPage River near the Shorewood 7-Eleven. Vallejo said he asked Hansen to draw a composite sketch of what the gun looked like.

"He said it wasn't a Glock. We didn't want some child to find it and shoot himself or hurt himself," Vallejo said, explaining how the police convinced Hansen to help them recover the missing firearm.

Later on Thursday afternoon, prosecutor Tricia McKenna called upon two forensic scientists, Frances Kammueller of the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory in Mundelein and recently retired Tonia Brubaker of the Illinois State Police.

In regard to a spent shell casing recovered from the passenger's floorboard and another one recovered from the passenger's door pocket of Nance's car, Kammueller testified both items of ammunition were fired from the same gun.

When Brubaker took the stand as the last witness for the week, she testified she had 31 years of experience analyzing firearms and ammunition with the Illinois State Police.

She also performed the laboratory testing upon the Springfield 9-millimeter handgun that Joliet and Will County detectives recovered from the DuPage River after being led there by a cooperative Hansen.

"It was covered with mud, and there was rust on it. Covered in dirt," she explained for the jury. The Springfield handgun was not operable, either.

However, Brubaker testified she had plenty of experience with cleaning guns for laboratory testing, so she used soapy hot water and a special lubricant oil upon the Springfield, and the gun was able to work again, she testified.

"After I cleaned it, I was able to fire it," she testified.

According to her microscopic analysis, the recovered projectile recovered from the non-fatal shooting in the 200 block of Davis Street generated inconclusive results.

Brubaker testified she could not link the fired cartridge to any of the guns she tested that came from Nance or Hansen's prior handling.

"The fired bullet was inconclusive to the Springfield," she told the jury.

In regard to the 9-millimeter cartridge recovered from the passenger side floorboard of Nance's maroon Toyota Camry, Brubaker testified her analysis did in fact determine it "was fired by the Springfield. Yes, it was," she testified definitely.

As for the 9-millimeter cartridge recovered from the passenger door pocket, that ammunition shell casing "was fired from the Springfield," she notified the jury. "Both shell casings from the Springfield, yes, they were."

During cross-examination from Hansen's lead criminal defense attorney, Jeff Tomczak of the Tomczak Law Group, Brubaker answered that she never disassembled the Springfield gun at any point in time. To clean it with the hot, soapy water, she said she used cotton swabs.

During his line of questioning on both forensic scientists called by the Will County State's Attorney's Office, Tomczak continued to refer to a 2009 national study involving forensic science that drew attention to the fact that toolmark identification and comparison is largely subjective and does not have a defined specific number of points of similarity.

"My opinion is subjective, yes," Brubaker answered the defense lawyer for Hansen. "It's all based on my experience and my opinion."

Tomczak questioned whether the fact that the police sent her only a couple of guns left Brubaker with the impression or suggestion that detectives were pretty certain they were on the right track and needed confirmation through her lab work.

"No, it doesn't affect my examination," Brubaker responded.

Hansen's murder trial will begin its third week of testimony Monday in Courtroom 502.

Nance family slayings came before Joliet shootings

During the first-degree murder trial for the Shorewood resident, the prosecutors are working to convince the jury that Hansen—not Romeo Nance—carried out the last two Joliet shootings on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024.

The Nance family was slaughtered inside their two houses across the street from one another at noon and then at 12:07 p.m., according to trial testimony. The two later shootings in the 200 block of Davis Street and at the Pheasant Run apartment complex did not happen until after 4 p.m.

According to this week's trial testimony, Nance drove out to Shorewood and picked up Hansen and Hansen's girlfriend Madison Bulow-Padilla after 2:30 p.m. The three then drove around for a while, stopping at the 7-Eleven in Shorewood where Hansen purchased gloves, then later driving to Calderon Liquors in Joliet before driving past the Joliet police station.

Finally, Nance's maroon car drove to Davis Street, where Guerrero was shot in the leg, and then Bakare was fatally shot after taking out his garbage at his Pheasant Run apartment complex, according to trial testimony.