After Shooting 3 Outside Eden's Bar, Gadson Draws Prison Term

JOLIET, IL — Alonzo Gadson, a 40-year-old man who shot three people outside the Eden's Bar and Grill in the summer of 2018, has received a prison term of 16-and-a-half years as part of a plea agreement with the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow.

Under the plea deal, Gadson's attempted murder charges were dismissed. He pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated discharge of a gun.

At the time of the shootings, Gadson lived in the 100 block of Edison Road in Joliet. He was also a convicted felon who wasn't supposed to have any guns. One victim was shot in the mouth, a second was shot in the back and a third was shot in the knee.

"Defendant was at the Eden Bar and Grill, along with the three victims named in the charging document," Will County prosecutors noted. "Defendant got into an argument with the victims, pulled out a gun and fired in the direction of the victims, striking all three."

Gadson has remained in Will County's Jail for the duration of his criminal proceedings, unable to post 10 percent of his $4 million bail. He was able to hire the services of Chuck Bretz & Associates as his private counsel.

During Friday's interview at his law office, Bretz said that all three of Gadson's criminal sentences will run at the same time. Gadson also gets credit for the 1,227 days he has already spent in the jail awaiting trial.

The prison sentence will be served at 50 percent. Bretz said that Gadson will probably get out after serving another four years of incarceration.

"It was my belief, with all due respect to the (State's Attorneys), that Alonzo was clearly not the aggressor in this situation," Bretz told Joliet Patch. "Alonzo walks away to his car, and a whole group of these guys went over and surrounded his car.

"One of them kept trying to provoke an incident with him."

Gadson remarked in court that "he was in fear at the time he fired the shots," Bretz said.

All three of the shooting victims recovered, and two of them have a pending lawsuit against Eden's Bar & Grill, which is located at the corner of Gardner Street and Doris Avenue.