Nearly three years ago, Chicago police detectives asked the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office to charge a high-ranking gang member with the murder of Chrys Carvajal, a 19-year-old National Guardsman who was visiting his family for a Fourth of July barbecue on the Northwest Side.

The prosecutors refused to sign off on the charges, citing insufficient evidence. They sent the cops marching with instructions to get more proof. Their office never charged anyone with Carvajal’s death.

Federal prosecutors are now doing what their state counterparts would not. On Friday, the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that they have charged two Milwaukee Kings gang members with racketeering and murder in connection with Carvajal’s death. One of the men charged is the same man Chicago police tried to charge with murder in 2021, according to a source.

Carvajal had stepped away from the family gathering to get something from his car around 1:20 a.m. on July 4, 2021, when someone shot and killed him in the 2200 block of North Lockwood, officials said at the time.