By Clifford Ward / Special to the Tribune

The last of three Elgin men charged in the gang-related shooting death of a Rochelle woman was found guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder.

A Kane County jury returned the verdict against Tony Rosalez, 21, of Elgin, for the Jan. 30, 2009, murder of 22-year-old Paola Ramirez-Rodriguez, according to Assistant State’s Atty. Greg Sams. The jury began deliberating around 11:30 a.m. before announcing its verdict early Wednesday evening.

Rosalez, authorities said, was among five people in an SUV that pulled alongside Ramirez-Rodriguez’s car in the 600 block of Raymond Street. A gunman in the SUV opened fire, hitting Ramirez-Rodriguez, who died two days later from her wounds. Her cousin, who was not injured, was able to stop the car.

Shortly before the shooting, Ramirez-Rodriguez and the cousin were chatting with some men in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant when the SUV drove through the lot, and those inside began flashing gang signs at the men talking to the two women, according to authorities.

Police said they think the men in the SUV misidentified the victim and her cousin as gang rivals.

Prosecutors argued that Rosalez was the triggerman, but the jury declined to make that specific finding, Sams said. Had the jury found that he personally discharged the gun, Rosalez would have faced a minimum 45-year prison sentence.

Instead, he can receive anywhere from a 20- to 60-year prison term.

Two other men in the SUV, Manith Vilayhong and Raul Perez-Gonzalez, have pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for their involvement in the death of Ramirez-Rodriguez, who was the mother of a 6-month-old son.