One Arrested After Shots Fired From Balcony in Forest Park

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated. For the latest, click here to read, Police: It Could Be Weeks Before Man Charged in Forest Park Apartment Balcony Shooting

A 25-year-old man has been arrested, but charges have not yet been filed in connection with a series of shots that were fired Saturday night from the balcony of a building in the 300 block of Des Plaines Avenue, police said.

The man, who has not yet been identified, will likely be charged with one count of reckless discharge of a firearm. A 17-year-old female in the apartment was placed in protective custody and also is being questioned in connection with the incident, police said.

As many as two handguns and a number of live rounds of ammunition were recovered from the scene, police said.

Police received several calls around 10:45 p.m. reporting that the callers heard shots fired nearby. At first, dispatch relayed that two subjects were being shot at in the area of the 7400 block of Washington Boulevard.

As many as nine officers came to the scene. Police determined that the shots were fired from the north side of a building in the 300 block of Des Plaines and set up a perimeter around the area.

A tow truck driver told police he pulled into the lot in the 300 block of Des Plaines where he saw a man standing on the uppermost center balcony and then saw another person vigorously moving the blinds on the same balcony.

Officers went from unit to unit in the building and eyewitnesses pointed to the third floor patio balcony as the location where as many as six shots were fired, police said.

Shell casings from a .45 caliber handgun were found on the ground below the balcony.

Police then went to the unit in question where one of the people inside told police that he had heard the shots. The man's girlfriend inside, who police described as hysterical, shouted, "No, he didn't do nothing."

Officers continued questioning residents and then returned to that unit, where they asked the man if he had any handguns. The man told them he had a 40-caliber gun and that it was registered. The handgun, which the man had retrieved from underneath the kitchen sink was a Ruger P94 .40 caliber handgun, which was in a case, unloaded and had not been fired.

Police later found a Springfield Armory XD semi-automatic handgun sticking out of a jacket pocket hanging on the coat rack on the door. Police determined that weapon was a .45 caliber handgun, the same caliber as the spent shell casings recovered from the ground outside of the apartment.

The man was taken into custody and a 17-year-old female at the apartment was placed into protective custody and put under investigation for discharging a fireman and providing a false date of birth, police said.

Police said they recovered the following items on the scene:

• From a coat hanging from the front door to the apartment, an unloaded .45 caliber Springfield Armory;
• From a pair of jeans on the floor in the middle of the apartment, a .45 caliber magazine loaded with eight live rounds;
• From the kitchen counter, officers found a small black "MTM" Pocket pistol gun case with a .40 caliber Ruger semi-automatic pistol with a magazine loaded with nine live rounds.
• From the futon, on top of the matress, police found a spent .45 caliber casing.
• From the top of the futon on the bed sheet, officers recovered a spent .45 caliber casing.

The case was still under investigation.

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