Joliet Triple Murder: Flare Gun Shooter Andy Cerros Sentenced

JOLIET, IL — Andy Cerros was 17 years old when prosecutors charged him with the flare gun deaths of three Joliet residents: Jacquetta Rogers, 29, Regina Rogers, 28, and Regina's 11-month-old daughter, Royalty Rogers. Their two-story house on North Center Street went up in flames, and they died during the overnight blaze on June 3, 2017.

Now 21 years old, Cerros was sentenced Thursday to 32 years in prison by Will County Circuit Judge Vincent Cornelius. Will County State's Attorney spokeswoman Carole Cheney said that Cerros pleaded guilty to three counts of murder. Other felony charges were dropped under the plea bargain.

At the time of the alleged arson, Cerros lived in the 700 block of Morgan Street, and he was a Joliet street gang member, according to courtroom testimony.

In 2019, co-defendant Eric Raya pleaded guilty to the much lesser offense of obstruction of justice as well as an unrelated charge of aggravated battery.

"The bottom line I want everyone to know is that Eric Raya, at no point in time, was responsible for the deaths of the three victims," remarked downtown Joliet criminal lawyer Jeff Tomczak of The Tomczak Group during a 2019 interview.

Joliet Patch previously reported that the intended target of the near west-side arson was Joliet gang member Rakeem "Rocky" Venson, formerly of Milwaukee, who managed to escape the fire while everyone else inside the house perished.

In 2019, Tomczak said that his client, then 18, was actually asleep inside the Chrysler Pacifica of co-defendants Cerros and Manuel A. Escamilla, also then 18. Raya was suddenly awakened from his slumber by the pops of the flare gun being discharged, according to his attorney.

"He saw Andy Cerros holding the plastic flare gun. He also heard Andy Cerros admitting that he had shot the flare through the second story of the residence," Tomczak said.

After the deadly arson, Escamilla and Cerros went and hid the flare gun to make sure the Joliet Police did not find it, Tomczak claimed. The gun was never recovered by police.

The North Center house on Joliet's near west side where the triple homicide occurred has since been demolished.

Now that two co-defendants have been sentenced, the only case awaiting trial involves Escamilla, now 21. From the 100 block of Joliet's Hunter Avenue, he has been locked away from the community since his arrest by Joliet police detectives back on June 9, 2017.