High-ranking Venezuelan gang member sought in deadly South Shore triple shooting arrested in Georgia

Related video: 3 women shot, 2 fatally, in South Shore alley

COBB COUNTY, Ga. (WGN) — A high-ranking member of the Venezuelan street gang Tren De Aragua, who federal prosecutors say is linked to a deadly triple shooting in Chicago, is now in police custody following his arrest Thursday in Georgia.  

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs announced on Friday that multiple law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals and the Chicago Police Department, collaborated in capturing 32-year-old Ricardo Gonzales. Currently jailed in Cobb County, Georgia, Gonzales is awaiting extraction back to Chicago.

According to a news release,

Gonzales had an arrest warrant from CPD for kidnapping. CPD also sought the 32-year-old on probable cause for two counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder concerning the early morning shooting on Tuesday, Jan. 28.  

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 3 women shot, 2 fatally, in South Shore alley

WGN-TV previously reported that Chicago police found three women unresponsive in an alleyway in the 7700 block of S. Oglesby Avenue in the city’s South Shore neighborhood.  

Police believe the shooting occurred around 4:50 a.m. 

Two women died as a result of the shooting, and a third woman was critically wounded but survived after escaping and calling 911. 

WGN-TV spoke with a neighbor, Marcia Talbert, who recalled waking up to the terrified victim, desperately seeking help. 

“It shook us up,” she said. “It woke my son up, and he was scared.”  

The woman was without a coat and covered in blood, Talbert added. By the time she retrieved her coat, Talbert said the victim had already left and received help from a nearby neighbor.

“She kept saying police, police,” said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified. “We came outside. My mom came out first. She was bleeding everywhere.”

The U.S. Marshal Service (USMS) Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force (SERFTF), USMS Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, ICE, and CPD worked jointly in Gonzales’ arrest.