Joliet Police Raid Wrong House On Comstock: Federal Lawsuit

JOLIET, IL — The law offices of attorney Al Hofeld Jr. are held a Thursday press conference in Chicago to discuss their new federal lawsuit targeting the Joliet Police Department for raiding the wrong house in connection with the 2021 Halloween Party mass shooting investigation. That shooting took place during the early morning hours of Halloween at 1018 Jackson St., just outside city of Joliet limits.

The Will County Sheriff's Office has investigated the shooting, which left three people dead, including the man police believe was the intended target.

In the early morning hours of Nov. 2, 2021, at 228 Comstock in the city of Joliet, a disabled, 62-year-old woman, Adela Carrasco, with her four grandchildren ages 10, 12, 13 and 14, behind her, opened her front door to 10 rifles and handguns pointed directly at her, according to a federal civil rights suit filed Wednesday night.

The officers shouted they had an arrest warrant for an "Elliot Reyes," who did not live there and the Joliet police officers already knew that the warrant was for 226, not 228 Comstock, Hofeld's lawsuit claims.

"Nevertheless, about a dozen law enforcement officers of the Joliet Police Department, Will County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshal’s Service pushed the 62-year-old Carrasco aside, forcing their way inside 228 Comstock and pointed guns directly at her grandchildren before detaining them for six hours for no lawful reason," Hofeld said.

Joliet Patch left a message seeking comment on the case from Joliet Police Spokesman Dwayne English. "I am unable to comment on any pending litigation," he responded.

According to Hofeld's news release regarding his new federal lawsuit complaint:

The officers in Joliet did not actually have an arrest warrant for "Elliot Reyes" but rather Elian J. Raya, who lived next door at 226 Comstock, the address on the warrant.

According to the lawsuit complaint, it was crystal clear that 226 and 228 were two, separate residences with two separate entrances and the officers knew that they were two separate residences. However, the officers were playing an intentional but bad game of “catch up” in the wake of the tragic shooting death of two, 22-year-old homicide victims —Holly Mathews and Jonathan Ceballos — at the outdoor Halloween Party two days earlier in Joliet.

"The officers faced public pressure to make an arrest," Hofeld's press statement declared. "With no leads, Joliet Police Detective Raymond Jansma decided to revive a never executed, 77-day-old warrant for the arrest of Elian J. Raya, an 18-year-old. Officers had not executed the warrant before then because neither Jansma nor any other JPD officer believed that Elian had committed the crime.

"But this didn’t stop Defendant Officers from descending upon the 228 South Comstock residence on November 2, 2021, where they unlawfully forced entry without a warrant, consent, exigency, or any other lawful basis for entering a home. Furthermore, they pointed guns directly at all plaintiffs, including the children, at point-blank range even though plaintiffs were fully compliant and despite the obvious fact that they posed no safety threat to the officers."

Without a search warrant or consent to search the inside of 228 Comstock, officers also flipped mattresses, pulled clothing out of drawers and cut open couch cushions, the civil rights lawsuit contends.

Hofeld noted that Joliet police, the U.S. marshals and Will County Sheriff's Office eventually entered 226 Comstock and arrested Elian Raya inside. Still, the 62-year-old Carrasco and her grandchildren were detained for six hours, so officers could get a warrant to raid their entire house.

Her requests to use the bathroom and get her asthma inhaler were denied by officers, the Chicago civil rights law noted.

“This is unacceptable behavior towards young children and an elderly, disabled woman, regardless of the circumstances,” remarked Attorney Zach Hofeld. “There is a modicum of decency and reasonableness with which police must treat the elderly and children. The psychological injuries they suffered as the result of officers’ misconduct are profound and will remain with them for the rest of their lives.”

Hofeld pointed out that three other people, Joskar Ramos and the two Lopez brothers, Thomas and Jeremy, were ultimately arrested by the Will County Sheriff's Office and all three remain in the county jail, each charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Halloween party mass shootings.

The backyard house party shootings on Joliet's east side left 10 people injured and two people immediately dead: 22-year-olds Holly Mathews and Jonathan Ceballos. A year later, the intended target of the shooting, Joliet gang member, Sergio Hernandez, died of his injuries, making him the third homicide victim in that case.

"As irony would have it, months later three individuals were arrested and charged for the Halloween shooting," Hofeld's press release noted. "They currently await trial. None of them had any relation to Elliott Reyes, Elian J. Raya or 226 or 228 Comstock in Joliet.

"Plaintiffs seek justice for Defendants’ egregious violations of their constitutional rights and their injuries, including their mental pain and suffering and ongoing, severe emotional distress."