Suspected Gunman In Halloween Party Shooting In Custody: Police

JOLIET, IL — The Will County Sheriff's Office has arrested Joskar Ramos, an 18-year-old Joliet teen who lives on Gael Drive, on felony weapons charges after a Wednesday night raid at his apartment. Will County Sheriff's spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer told Joliet Patch that Ramos is the prime suspect in Sunday's early morning mass shooting at 1018 East Jackson Street.

The backyard shooting during a Halloween party on Joliet's east side killed two people and left several others hospitalized with gunshot wounds and other injuries. About 200 people were at the party when the shooting happened.

Ramos was booked into the Will County Jail at 10:09 a.m. Friday, and his bail was set at $1 million, according to sheriff's officials.

"Through multiple interviews, videos and tips, sheriff's detectives were able to develop information regarding the suspect, Joskar Sebastian Ramos, age 18, of 905 Gael Drive in Joliet," Will County's Sheriff's Office announced Friday afternoon.

The Ramos family apartment unit in the 900 block of Gael Drive in Joliet off Black Road was the subject of a lengthy sheriff's office raid that lasted several hours on Wednesday.

Will County detectives saw Ramos in an upstairs window while setting up a perimeter, and detectives recovered a Glock handgun that Ramos is believed to have tossed onto the roof, Hoffmeyer told Joliet Patch.

"During the course of knocking on doors and announcing their presence, they observed Joskar Ramos look out a second story window and then disappear from view. Deputies continued their attempts to have Ramos come to the door ... As the deputies continued their efforts, a deputy observed a gun that had been placed outside the same window onto the roof of the first floor," Friday's news release stated.

Detectives later went inside the house and took Ramos, who turned 18 years old on Oct. 22, into police custody. Ramos was later questioned about the Halloween house party shootings, and he invoked his right to a lawyer, the sheriff's office said.

As of Friday, Ramos has not been formally charged with the two homicides and injuries to the other victims wounded early Sunday morning, Hoffmeyer said. Holly Matthews and Jonathan Ceballos, both 22 and from Joliet, were killed in the shooting.

"At this time, no charges are related to the murders or shooting," Friday's news release indicated.

All of his pending charges are unrelated to the actual shooting, she said.

On Friday, the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow charged Ramos with the following three crimes: possession of a gun without a valid Firearm Owners Identification card, obstructing justice and possession of gun ammunition without a valid Firearm Owners Identification card.

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Hoffmeyer told Patch on Friday that for Will County Sheriff's detectives, "it's a 24-hour, 7 days a week operation at this point."

She said that sheriff's detectives are still looking for the second shooting suspect in connection with the Halloween house party mass shooting.

"Right now, they're still working and pursuing the second shooter," she added.