Prison Terms Revealed For Aurora Teen, 19, Convicted In 2023 Murder: Mosser

AURORA, IL — Three years after a 19-year-old Aurora man was fatally shot, the man found responsible for his death was handed a 33-year prison sentence, the Kane County State's Attorney's Office said.

Zahmeir Andrews, a 19-year-old resident of Aurora, was convicted July 14 of four felonies — first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery and unlawful possession of a weapon — in connection with the death of Edwin Varela.

In the evening of Aug. 20, 2023, Aurora police received multiple 911 calls reporting a car crash and person shot in the 1300 block of North Glen Circle. There, officers found Varela suffering from gunshot wounds inside the crashed car, officials said.

Paramedics brought Varela to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after.

In court, Assistant State's Attorneys Mark Stajdohar and Adam Katz said Varela and his girlfriend were planning to go to dinner when Varela told her he needed to stop to sell illegal cannabis and vape cartridges. The two drove to North Glen Circle, where Varela stopped the car near three boys — a 16-year-old and a 15-year-old from Aurora and a 15-year-old from Montgomery — and began discussing payment with one of them, officials said.

A fourth person, later identified as 16-year-old Andrews, approached the car carrying a handgun. Varela backed out of a driveway and then put his car into drive when Andrews began firing, prosecutors said. As a minor, Andrews was prohibited by law to carry a firearm.

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Varela was struck multiple times in the upper body. The car continued moving and crashed into several parked cars, officials said. Varela's girlfriend was not shot.

The three others were identified and charged in connection with the shooting. Two were minors, and the third was 18-year-old Daniel D. Robinson, whose case remains pending.

Andrews, of the 1300 block of Monomoy Street in Aurora, was sentenced to consecutive terms of 25 years for first-degree murder and eight years for attempted first-degree murder. Illinois law requires him to serve the full 25-year sentence and 85 percent of the shorter sentence.

Concurrent to those sentences, Andrews was sentenced to four years for attempted armed robbery and two years for unlawful possession of a weapon, both of which are eligible for day-to-day sentencing. He was credited for the 1,133 days served in the Kane County jail.

"Although all murders are senseless, this one was especially so because it was over a small amount of cannabis, and the defendant got away with nothing," Stajdohar said in a statement. "He fired his weapon and fled. This young victim had a long life ahead of him that was cut short far too soon. The defendant will now have a quarter of a century to reflect on the life he ended and took away from a loving family."