3 men charged with attempting to kill rival gang member in deadly Joliet Township shooting

Prosecutors charged three men with attempting to kill a rival gang member at a Halloween party in Joliet Township that left two people dead and seven others with gunshot wounds.

Holly Mathews and Jonathan Ceballos, both 22, and almost 200 other attendees were caught in the shooting that involved members of the rival Vice Lords and Latin Kings street gangs, who were not invited to the party, Will County Sheriff Deputy Chief Dan Jungles said.

“Everyone who was at that party had the potential to be shot and killed that day. It definitely could’ve been a lot worse,” Jungles said.

Jungles said one of the three men had a gun with a high-capacity magazine that jammed. He said if the weapon hadn’t malfunctioned, more people would have been killed.

On Wednesday, the Will County Sheriff’s Office announced Joskar Ramos, 18, of Joliet, Thomas Lopez, 21, of Lockport, and his brother Jeremy Lopez, 19, of Joliet were arrested in connection with the killing of Mathews and Ceballos.

In a criminal complaint, prosecutors said all three men responsible for Mathews’ and Ceballos’ death had intended to kill a 19-year-old man whom Jungles said was a known Latin Kings member. The 19-year-old was left paralyzed as a result of his gunshot wounds, he said.

The Lopez brothers are Vice Lords with extensive histories of weapons offenses, police said. The Latin Kings and Vice Lords are two of the four major gangs that have been known to operate in Joliet since the 1980s.

Ramos and the Lopez brothers also were charged with aggravated battery with a firearm. Jungles said those charges stem from the wounding of a 22-year-old male, a 23-year-old male and three minors in the shooting. The 23-year-old is a Vice Lords member, Jungles said.

Jungles said the gang members at the Halloween party had a confrontation and decided to settle their dispute “in cowardly fashion, by shooting their weapons into a crowd of close to 200 people.”

“This shooting occurred from an elevated position and these criminals had no regard for the lives of those that were attending the party,” Jungles said.

Several witnesses described seeing a flashing of gang signs between the two groups just before the shooting began, Jungles said.

Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley said every member of the criminal investigations division worked tirelessly for months with Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s office “to help bring these thugs to justice.”

Although more than two months has passed since her daughter’s death, Mathews’ mother, Sharyl Mathews, was confident charges would be brought and arrests would be made.

“They told me the United States Marshals were working on it,” Sharyl Mathews said. “They were working nonstop on it. I knew they were going to get them eventually.”

Sharyl Mathews was also confident the charges would stick.

“It seems like there’s no wiggle room, there’s no way out of it.” she said.

Sharyl Mathews said her family is still reeling from the senseless killing of her daughter.

“Even though they got these guys, it’s not going to bring her back,” she said. “There’s a hole in our hearts.”

A total of nine people – including Mathews and Ceballos – were shot in the incident and two others were injured when they were trampled by people fleeing the scene, Jungles said.

Jungles said the investigation could not have been solved without the help of the public.

“The Will County Sheriff’s Office has never had so many individuals come forward with information about who was responsible for this heinous act,” Jungles said.

He said the sheriff’s office is hopeful additional charges of murder will be brought up against one other suspect whom he declined to name.