When federal agents arrested Ricardo Granadillo Padilla in Raleigh, North Carolina, last winter, homeland security officials framed it as a dramatic break in one of Chicago’s deadliest mass shootings. An ICE press release called him a “suspected shooter,” linked him to Venezuela’s most notorious criminal gang, and suggested that justice for eight people shot in Gage Park last December might finally be in sight.
“ICE Chicago captures shooters in December 2024 mass shooting tied to Tren de Aragua gang,” read the headline on the agency’s press release.
But behind the scenes, the case apparently went nowhere. No one has been charged. Ballistic tests came up empty. And months later, without fanfare, federal authorities quietly put Granadillo on a plane back to Venezuela…