Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and prosecutors with his office announced on Monday, that a 25-year-old man has been sentenced to serve life in prison after being charged in a murder that took place in January of 2021.
On Monday, Krasner announced that a jury had convicted Michael Ortiz for the murder of 32-year-old Luis Alcazar, who was killed in a shooting along the 5700 block of Walker Street in the city's Wissinoming section on January 28, 2021.
Ortiz, of Kensington, has been sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"This is a case that was not easy to solve. It took intense work by a number of detectives and also a special agent in the FBI," said Krasner. "There were not a bunch of witnesses, not much perfect evidence and they worked on it for six months before they made an arrest."
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According to Assistant District Attorney Kate Lewis, Alcazar was killed shortly after he woke to feed his newborn child.
"He woke up in the middle of the night to feed his baby. Baby was crying, he goes down to check his phone," said Lewis.
She said after reading the phone, he told his then fiancee that he needed to meet someone and he left the house.
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She said Alcazar then met Ortiz and the pair spoke in Alcazar's vehicle.
During that meeting, which was caught on surveillance cameras, Lewis said, Alcazar was shot three times.
Lewis said that investigation into this incident produced information that found that Ortiz fled from the scene in a "very, very distinct" white Chrysler 200.
In a recorded conversation with his brother -- who is serving a life sentence for a 2019 homicide -- Ortiz discussed that vehicle, Lewis said.
That conversation helped bring Ortiz to justice, she said.
"We had to put all the pieces together," said Lewis.
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