Man Fatally Shot by Friend While Celebrating His Birthday: Police

LAKE COUNTY, IL - A 19-year-old Round Lake Park man out celebrating his birthday was killed when his friend accidentally shot him in the head, authorities said Tuesday.

Joey Gonzalez, 19, of the 300 block of Maple Lane in Round Lake, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of David J. Graham, of the 300 block of Forest Glen Drive in Round Lake Park. Graham died of a gunshot wound to the head during the early morning hours of Monday, authorities said.

Graham, 19, was driving with Gonzalez and three others who were out celebrating Graham's birthday when the group pulled over in the area of West Monaville Road and West Old Monaville Road in unincorporated Lake Villa, according to a Lake County Sheriff’s Office news release.

Graham and Gonazlez got out of the vehicle and began firing a shotgun into the air, police said. The two got back into the car with Graham in the driver’s seat and Gonzlez sitting on the driver’s side in the back seat.

Gonzalez was holding the shotgun, which had a sawed off barrel, when it went off inside the vehicle, shooting Graham in the head, Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman Christopher Covelli said. Gonzalez moved Graham out of the driver’s seat and drove him to Northwestern Medicine Grayslake Outpatient Center at about 12:45 a.m. on Monday. Graham died a short time later.

Authorities said the shooting was an accident and, in addition to the involuntary manslaughter charge, have charged Gonzalez with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon-possession of a sawed-off shotgun and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon -- no FOID card, said Christopher Covelli, spokesman for the Lake County Sheriff's Office. He has also been charged with residential burglary in connection with an October 2016 burglary in Ingleside.

“Gonzalez was a person of interest in the burglary and additional facts were developed during the death investigation indicating his involvement,” Christopher Covelli, spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said in a news release.

Gonzalez’s bond has been set at $300,000 and he remains in custody at the Lake County Jail. He is next expected in court on March 17.

It does not appear that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the shooting, Covelli said. The Lake County Coroner's Office will collect toxicology samples on Graham to be sent to a lab for analysis as part of the investigation.

The other adults who were present at the time of the shooting have not been charged and are being considered witnesses to the incident, Covelli said.

Photo caption: Joey Gonzalez Photo credit: Lake County Sheriff's Office