Fatal Shooting On Chicago Street: Motorist, 20, Dies

JOLIET, IL — In an unusual move, the administration of Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley has implemented a news blackout in connection with the deadly shooting of a motorist that took place Sunday night along South Chicago Street on the outskirts of Joliet.

With the help of public agencies outside the Will County Sheriff's Office, Joliet Patch learned that the homicide took the life of 20-year-old Lorenzo Gibbons.

Gibbons was shot in the head around 11 p.m. in the 1900 block of South Chicago Street while he was driving north into Joliet. The shooting happened outside the Joliet city limits, and that's why the Will County Sheriff's Office is investigating the crime.

Within seconds of being shot in the head, Gibbons pulled off South Chicago Street and drove his car down the long entrance leading into the Pheasant Run Apartments.

At the end of the entrance road, Gibbons crashed into a parked car that belonged to one of the apartment complex residents.

The East Joliet Fire District and the Will County Sheriff's Office responded to the shooting, and Gibbons was rushed by ambulance to AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center. Emergency room doctors had Gibbons airlifted to the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

Records from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office show Gibbons died from his injuries around 4:45 p.m. Monday. The records from Cook County authorities reveal that Gibbons was shot in the head in the 1900 block of South Chicago Street in Joliet.

An autopsy took place at Loyola University Medical Center, documents reflect.

At no point during the past four days has the Will County Sheriff's Office released any information regarding the Joliet Township homicide that took place late Sunday night. On Thursday morning, Patch sent Will County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dan Jungles a written question, asking him why the sheriff's office has not put out any information about the crime.

"The WCSO has not put out any information in regards to this crime, due to the fact that by doing so jeopardizes the integrity of the case," Jungles responded. "Publishing information in regards to this investigation will greatly diminish the solvability of this case at this time."

Joliet Patch first learned of the shooting on Tuesday afternoon when a resident of the Pheasant Run apartment complex contacted Patch, asking why it hadn't published a story about the shooting.

"Haven't read anything about the person shot and killed in Pheasant Run (Apartments) driveway Sunday night!? Any news?" the woman wrote Joliet Patch's editor.

"I'm hearing it was in front of the buildings on (Route) 53. The guy pulled into the parking lot and crashed into a car. About 10:30ish Sunday night. I heard the shots clear because my balcony was open, was scary close. Sheriffs were parked in the lot till about 3 or 4 p.m. Monday ... Patch reports everything, so I was surprised no story was posted."

After receiving no information and no news releases from Jungles at any point this week, Joliet Patch spent the past couple days obtaining information from a variety of sources.

Patch interviewed other public officials, public agencies and people at the Pheasant Run Apartments to piece together the key details of Sunday night's gun homicide along South Chicago Street.

Patch learned that one of the investigators working on the Chicago Street homicide is Will County Sheriff's Detective Sean Moran. The sheriff's office was able to review the video surveillance cameras that are set up throughout the property of the large Pheasant Run Apartments. The complex along Route 53 has more than 145 apartment units.

People who spoke with Patch said it was their understanding that Sunday night's shooting victim did not reside at the Pheasant Run Apartments. One person theorized that Gibbons pulled into the complex because it was the first street he saw moments after being shot.

After shooting Gibbons as both cars sped along the highway, the gunman continued driving north, and was last seen traveling toward the city of Joliet, within the jurisdiction of the Joliet Police Department.

Patch learned that Joliet police were advised on Sunday night to be on the lookout for a possible suspect vehicle that may have been involved in the South Chicago Street shooting.

One person familiar with details of the shooting said it was their understanding the Will County Sheriff's Office could be investigating the shooting as a possible road rage incident.

In late February, there was a deadly car shooting in Elwood just a few miles from where Sunday night's homicide occurred. In the Elwood homicide, police arrested 38-year-old Joliet resident Derrell Draper on charges of first-degree murder.

In the Feb. 26 killing, homicide victim Bobby Bigger of Shorewood and the murder defendant had just finished their shift at the Home Depot warehouse in Elwood where they worked for a third-party vendor, Patch reported at the time. In the middle of the night, Bigger's car was found along a remote stretch of Baseline Road at the CenterPoint Intermodal Center in Elwood.

Bigger was fatally shot as he drove home from work. Elwood Police Chief Fred Hayes told Patch at the time that a passerby first spotted Bigger's parked car on Baseline Road as they drove past the area around 3:30 a.m. When the passerby drove by again around an hour later, they saw the car was still there and decided to call police.