A woman testified in court on Thursday she went to the police about the fatal shooting of a Joliet teen after she was told to get rid of the vehicle linked to the incident by a man charged with the teen’s death.

Cristian Ortiz-Arias, 21, of Joliet, is on trial this week for the 2021 murder of Diego Arriaga, 17, who died after he was shot in the back three times outside Blue Kangaroo laundromat in Joliet. Ortiz-Arias is charged with first-degree murder.

Elizabeth Manrique and Victor Ortega, both 22, were called by prosecutors on Thursday to testify about the events leading to the fatal shooting that claimed Arriaga’s life. Neither Manrique nor Ortega testified to seeing the shooting but they did hear the gunfire.

Ortega was a friend of Ortiz-Arias and was dating Manrique at the time of the incident.

On the night of May 21, 2021, Ortiz-Arias had requested Ortega to take him to the McDonald’s drive-thru in Joliet for a meal, according to Manrique’s testimony.

Manrique said Ortega drove a Nissan Altima, and she was a front-seat passenger, along with her pet hamster. Ortiz-Arias sat in the back, she said.

Ortega and Manrique made an unplanned stop at the rear parking lot of Blue Kangaroo because Ortiz-Arias said he “needed to go get something from somebody,” Manrique said.

After arriving at the parking lot, Manrique said she was playing with her hamster and not paying attention to what was going on.

She said she noticed Ortiz-Arias had opened his door to meet with someone who was visiting them at the parking lot.

During the conversation between Ortiz-Arias and the other person, Manrique said she heard something about money.

While looking through one of the vehicle’s mirrors, Manrique said she saw the person who was visiting them appear to reach into his pants. She said she ducked down and covered her head.

Manrique said she heard three gunshots.

“I was in shock. I had never been in a situation like that,” she said.

Arriaga was identified as the person who was found dead from gunshot wounds in the parking lot.

Ortiz-Arias had told Ortega to “go” and the three took a “very weird route” away from the laundromat, Manrique said.

Ortiz-Arias was dropped off at a park near his home in Joliet before Manrique and Ortega went back to their home, she said.

Manrique said Ortiz-Arias requested them in a text message to get rid of the shell casings in the vehicle. She said she picked up the shells with a brown napkin, and Ortega had tossed them somewhere else.

But then Ortiz-Arias sent them a news article about the fatal shooting and told them to get rid of the vehicle as well, Manrique said.

At that point, Manrique said she told Ortega that she was not comfortable communicating with Ortiz-Arias any further and that she didn’t want to take part in something that she hadn’t caused.

Manrique and Ortega later went to the Joliet Police Department to speak with detectives, she said.

Ortiz-Arias’ attorney, Chuck Bretz, has argued his client acted in self-defense in the incident.

During Bretz’s cross-examination, Manrique acknowledged prior statements where she explained that she ducked for cover because she thought the person outside their vehicle had a gun. Although she said she didn’t see them with a gun.

Bretz played a video of Ortega’s police interview, where he told detectives that Ortiz-Arias said to him after the shooting that he swore the other person was going to pull a gun on them.

Ortega recalled Ortiz-Arias saying, “It’s his life or ours.”