A Cook County jury today convicted a reputed gang member of fatally shooting a DePaul University honors student and wounding a second individual at a Halloween party in 2009 on Chicago's West Side.



Narcisco Gatica was charged with firing the fatal shots that killed Francisco "Frankie" Valencia. A co-defendant was previously sentenced to 70 years in prison for giving a loaded gun to Gatica shortly after they were asked to leave the party.



Gatica, 21, was charged with first-degree murder as well as aggravated battery with a firearm in the wounding of partygoer Daisy Camacho, 23.



Prosecutors alleged Gatica, an admitted Maniac Latin Disciple gang member, fired at a group of people down a narrow gangway in retaliation for being kicked out of a Halloween party in the 1700 block of North Rockwell Avenue two years ago.



In his closing argument today, Assistant State's Attorney Mark Shlifka told jurors to focus on Gatica's videotaped interview with police two days after the murder, saying his changing story showed the "shifting sands of a guilty mind."



In the interview, which was played several times for the jury, Gatica first denied he was near the scene. Later, he admitted being there but fingered his co-defendant, Berly Valladares, as the gunman. He then confessed he was the one seen on surveillance video firing a TEC-9 pistol four or five times at people he thought were rival gang members.



Assistant Public Defender Marijane Placek said Gatica was made the fall guy by his fellow gang members because they knew he was trying to leave that life. Gatica had been wounded in a shooting a year before and had recently become a father for the first time, she said.



Gatica's statements to police changed because he realized he was being blamed for something he did not do, Placek said.



Shlifka urged jurors to reject that as a desperate attempt to absolve himself of blame.



"Don't be fooled by his attempts now to escape what he's already confessed to," Shlifka said.



Valencia, 21, was a rising star on the DePaul campus. Weeks before his death, he was named a student Lincoln laureate, an annual award given to a student at each of the state's four-year universities who shows excellence in school and extracurricular activities.



Valladares, 22, who was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder for supplying the pistol to Gatica, was sentenced earlier this year to 70 years in prison.



jmeisner@tribune.com