A 24-year-old man has been sentenced to six years in jail after pleading guilty to attempting to kill a rival gang member during a random encounter at a South Loop CTA station.
Judge Laura Ayala-Gonzalez sentenced Vidal Herazo after he pleaded guilty to attempted murder, according to court records. With credit for time served and good behavior, he is projected to be released on June 4, 2026, after serving three years.
Prosecutors claim Herazo attacked a rival gang member following a brief, violent exchange at the Roosevelt Red Line stop late on June 16, 2023. According to court records, Herazo left a train and made a Two-Six gang hand gesture as he passed the victim on the platform. The victim, labeled as a Latin King, responded with his own gang gesture, resulting in an altercation.
The altercation immediately escalated. Prosecutors claim the victim took out a knife and then put it away before hitting Herazo in the face. Herazo allegedly pulled out his own knife, chased the man down the length of the platform, and stabbed him three times in the head and once in the arm.
Herazo’s knife punctured the victim’s skull and severed an artery in his arm, resulting in massive blood loss and permanent brain damage, according to prosecutors. The man reportedly lost two liters of blood and sustained injuries that hampered his mobility on his left side and impaired his ability to communicate.
According to prosecutors, when Chicago police officers arrived at the scene, Herazo was still hitting the man. He allegedly threw the knife down the train tracks, telling officers that the victim “should not have fucked with me.”
Judge Susana Ortiz, who presided over the initial phases of the case, referred to the altercation as “gang garbage.”
“It leads to nowhere good for anyone that participates or is involved in it,” Ortiz told the audience.