Man Sentenced To 57 Years For Attempted Murder Of IL State Trooper

WHEELING, IL — A resident was sentenced to 57 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the 2019 attempted murder of an Illinois State Trooper and the aggravated unlawful restraint of another trooper.

Volodymyr Dragan, 46, of Wheeling, received the sentence last week stemming from two related incidents during which Dragan held one state trooper at gunpoint and shot another ISP officer during an attempted apprehension of the defendant at his residence.

On Aug. 15, 2019, ISP officers executed an arrest/search warrant for Dragan at his residence in Wheeling. The arrest/search warrant stemmed from an earlier incident in which Dragan held an ISP trooper at gunpoint during a traffic stop.

WMAQ-TV reports the warrant included allegations Dragan was seated in the back seat of a trooper's squad car after getting pulled over for speeding on his motorcycle, when he pulled a handgun and aimed it at the trooper, before fleeing the scene on his motorcycle en route to his residence.

During the execution of the warrant, shots were fired from inside Dragan’s residence, and an officer was shot through the forearm. The second officer sustained life-threatening injuries and later recovered. At the time of the shooting, the trooper was a five-year veteran of the ISP, and was 32 years old. The trooper has since returned to full duty.

RELATED: State Trooper Shot While Carrying Out Search Warrant In Wheeling

The investigation was handled by ISP District 15 Investigations with the assistance of ISP District 15 Patrol, ISP Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Zone 1, ISP SWAT, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Wheeling Police Department, and the Cook County State’s Attorney.

“Due to the tireless efforts of the ISP, our law enforcement partners and the assistant state’s attorneys in this case, this dangerous individual has been brought to justice,” ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly said in a news release. “The ISP appreciates the court’s strong sentence as we continue our fight to make Illinois safer, not just for members of law enforcement, but for every resident of Illinois.”

Dragan has been housed at the Cook County Jail since Aug. 15, 2019