Will Halloween Party Killings Murder Defendant Be Released?

JOLIET — After being taken into custody on newly filed first-degree murder charges for the Oct. 31, 2021 deadly Halloween party shootings on Joliet's east side that ended three lives, 23-year-old David Grijalva of Joliet's Mound Road may leave the Will County Jail sometime on Thursday, but the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow is trying to put a stop to it.

On Wednesday, Will County prosecutors filed an emergency motion to reconsider with the presiding judge on the case, Carmen Goodman, after she ordered Grijalva to be released under the state's old bail-bond system. A hearing on the matter will take place on Thursday morning in Judge Goodman's fifth floor courtroom.

"The evidence in this case will establish that the defendant associates with the Vice Lord street gang and that there was an ongoing dispute between his gang and the Latin Kings," Will County's prosecutors declared in recent court filings. "The defendant's association with violent street gang activity is evidence of his dangerousness to the community.

"Further, numerous people have provided videotaped statements as witnesses in this case which have now been tendered to the defendant and five people have survived the gunshot wounds inflicted by the defendant and his co-defendants. The defendant poses a real and physical threat to each one of those individual people, identified in reports tendered to the defense."

Prosecutors maintain that while the Halloween party shootings happened under the cash bail-bond system, the first-degree murder charges filed earlier this month are brand-new and should be handled under the new SAFE-T-Act.

According to the prosecution's filing to deny pretrial release for Grijalva, on Halloween 2021, Will County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Cavera was patrolling on Joliet's east side near Jackson and Walnut streets when he heard 10 to 12 gunshots. The sergeant saw 150 to 200 people running from 1018 E. Jackson St., where the backyard party was.

One of the party's guests, Jonathon Ceballos, had suffered a gunshot to his head, and Holly Matthews had a gunshot to the right side of her chest. Both died at the scene. A third gunshot victim, Sergio Hernandez, suffered a gunshot to the back of his right shoulder. He remained paralyzed from the neck down until he died in the hospital a year later.

The remaining shooting victims recovered from their injuries.

The backyard party had a tent and portable toilets, and the house at 1018 East Jackson had three stories of apartments with wooden balconies. People who lived at one of the apartments hosted the party and served as the DJ. The invitations were spread on social media and many people showed up who didn't know the people hosting the party.

"Evidence will show that the shots were fired from this raised area, directly above the DJ," prosecutors informed Judge Goodman.

The petition notes that Joskar Ramos, Jeremy Lopez and Thomas Lopez were all previously charged with crimes that mirror the new ones against Grijalva.

"Witnesses and evidence will establish that there were four shooters acting together shooting from a raised position into the crowd of people ... the individuals were collectively targeting Sergio Hernandez," Will County prosecutors revealed. "Witnesses and evidence will establish that David Grijalva was firing a 9mm handgun. A shell casing recovered from the scene of the party was fired from a handgun used by David Grijalva in a separate shooting with which he was previously charged, with happened later the same date.

"Witnesses and evidence will establish that David Grijalva was personally involved in an ongoing dispute with Sergio Hernandez and had gotten into a physical altercation with him before this offense."

After the party shooting, Grijalva went to co-defendant Joskar Ramos's residence on Joliet's Gael Drive and "while there, he stated he was the person who shot Sergio," the petition said. "He claimed other people were responsible for the innocent people who were hit, but that he was the one who actually hit Sergio."

As for Thomas Lopez, he gave a statement to Will County Sheriff's after his arrest, noting that he was with Jeremy Lopez. Ramos and Grijalva on the porch above the driveway when "he saw Sergio reach for something and that his instinct was to start shooting. No evidence was recovered from Sergio Hernandez's body or the area surrounding him which would indicate Sergio possessed or fired a firearm, no evidence was recovered indicating that anyone at the party other than the defendant and his co-defendants were shooting at all."

Before being charged with first-degree murder on Oct. 3, Grijalva had been facing lesser included felonies in connection with the Halloween party shootings. He was kept in the Will County Jail for 363 days, until he posted 10 percent of his reduced bond, which was lowered from $300,000 to $200,000.

"After he posted bond, he created a video where he is mocking the paralyzed and comatose Sergio Hernandez," Will County's prosecutors told Judge Goodman.