Homeowner Fires Warning Shot As Driver Flees Into His Yard: Cops

HOMER GLEN, IL — A Homer Glen homeowner fired a warning shot after a driver fleeing the scene of a car accident ran into his backyard where his children were playing, the Will County Sheriff's Office said. At 4 p.m. Nov. 4, police said deputies were responding to a personal injury accident when hey received a call of shots fired in the area of 151st Street and Hillary in Homer Glen.

Police and the Lockport and Homer fire districts responded to the crash scene, where two people had been injured. A 16-year-old girl and 19-year-old man were taken to Bolingbrook Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

At the accident scene, a 2017 Nissan Sentra had struck a ComEd pole and cracked it, police said. Several witnesses told deputies that they had seen the car speeding, driving erratically and improperly passing vehicles on 151st Street. Witnesses saw the Nissan's driver lose control of the car, leave the roadway, strike a culvert and go airborne, and then strike the utility pole.

Witnesses told police the driver of the car then fled the scene on foot, leaving the injured teen passengers behind.

A perimeter of the area was established and K9s were released in an attempt to track the driver, but they were unsuccessful, police said. While searching for the driver, deputies spoke with a homeowner in the 15000 block of 151st Street, who said he was inside his garage when he saw the car crash near his yard.

According to police, the homeowner was checking on the people in the car when the driver ran out of the car and into the homeowner's backyard, where his young children were playing. The homeowner then fired his handgun into the ground near his feet as a warning to the driver.

Police said the driver again fled on foot.

Deputies went to Bolingbrook Hospital and spoke with the two passengers in the car. Charges are pending, including possible charges for the homeowner, and the case remains under investigation.