The gunman in a deadly shooting at the 2021 Puerto Rican Day parade in Humboldt Park was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday, the harshest punishment the judge could impose.
Anthony Lorenzi, 37, was convicted of second-degree murder in a two-day bench trial before Judge Domenica Stephenson and had faced 4 to 20 years in prison.
Stephenson said she hoped giving him the maximum would be a deterrent to others. “Anything less would minimize the seriousness of this offense,” the judge said.
Sentences for second-degree murder convictions are eligible for day-for-day credit in Illinois, and Lorenzi received a little more than three and a half years credit for his time in custody awaiting trial.
Lorenzi was with a group of people the night of June 19, 2021 in the 3200 block of West Division Street when prosecutors say Gyovanni Arzuaga, 24, was involved in minor car crash while driving his Dodge Durango.
The group with Lorenzi confronted Arzuaga and tried to pull him out of the car. As Arzuaga struggled with members of the group, he fired a round from a gun he was holding, striking his girlfriend Yasmin Perez, 25, in the neck.
The crowd scattered at the gunfire, but as Arzuaga slumped over Perez, Lorenzi came up to him and fired multiple times, killing him.
The young couple, whose family said had fallen in love with each other at first sight, left behind two young children.
Lorenzi fled after the shooting and was taken into custody in California. He has been held in Cook County Jail since being extradited back to Chicago.
The frantic scene was captured by surveillance cameras and the cell phones of bystanders. The shooting drew national attention as the city again faced criticism for its level of gun violence during the pandemic.
The judge admonished Lorenzi, whose criminal background included convictions for burglary and weapons offenses, for carrying a gun with him to the parade festivities that night.
Lorenzi “made the decision to carry a gun that he was not allowed to have and then insert himself in that situation,” Stephenson said.
Family members of Arzuaga and Perez had asked for the judge to throw the book at Lorenzi.
“I request the max because you have seen the facts,” Arzuaga’s aunt Michelle Portillo read to the judge from a statement she had written in the style of a rhyming poem.
Turning to Lorenzi, she read, “We loved him dearly, so remember this; the time with him we will always miss.”
Arzuaga’s grandmother Joan Vilaro reflected on her grandson’s early talent for bowling and his struggles in school before being treated for attention deficit disorder. He would often spending time with her on Friday nights getting dinner, watching a movie or playing cards.
“His smile was so infectious that he lit up a room with it,” she said.
Lorenzi appeared to listen intently to the statements from Arzuaga’s and Perez’s family and, when given the opportunity for his own statement, asked for forgiveness from them and his own family.
Lorenzi denied intending to kill Arzuaga. At trial, he argued he committed the shooting in self-defense. But, he said, he understood the pain his actions caused.
“I will once again be judged by God for my wrongs,” he read quietly from a written statement he had prepared. “I hope you find in your hearts to at least start the process of forgiveness.”