Walmart Parking Lot Gunman May Lose Tahoe: Forfeiture

JOLIET, IL — A 25-year-old resident of Joliet's east side has remained in the Will County Jail for the past two months following a parking lot shooting incident at the Walmart store on West Jefferson Street. On the same night of the Aug. 21 shooting, Joliet Police officers captured criminal defendant Mitchell Thompson near Patterson Road.

Thompson has remained locked away from society, unable to make his $750,000 bail, for the past two months. He was charged with aggravated discharge of a gun, two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a gun, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and obstruction of justice/destroying evidence as well as the crime of fleeing and eluding the police.

Now, the Will County State's Attorney's Office informed the county inmate that his 2005 Chevy Tahoe is now the subject of a police forfeiture proceeding because of the fleeing and eluding the police charge. The case will go before a Will County judge on Dec. 11.

Back on Aug. 21, Joliet Police officers were sent to the Walmart on West Jefferson Street for a report of shots fired. That night, someone in a black sports utility vehicle began firing his gun at another car in the parking lot, according to the police.

Nobody got hurt.

Emergency dispatchers advised the officers that a black Tahoe had fled the scene of the shooting. Several minutes later, Joliet Police officer Juan Acosta spotted the black Tahoe.

"Officer Acosta overheard a call of a shooting at the Walmart store on West Jefferson Street involving the Tahoe," the forfeiture complaint explains. "Officer Acosta got onto I-80 eastbound when he observed the Tahoe exit onto southbound Chicago Street and continue southbound and stop at a red traffic light at the intersection of Chicago and Patterson (Road).

When Acosta activated his squad car's flashing red and blue lights, however, the black Chevy Tahoe did not stop. "The Tahoe jumped the curb off the roadway and turned right onto Patterson Road," court records reflect.

"The Tahoe continued on Patterson Road and crossed into the oncoming lane, crossing the boundary line. The Tahoe then stopped at the intersection of Patterson and Joliet (Street)," court documents reflect.

At that point, Acosta put Thompson under arrest. The suspected parking lot shooter lives in the 1600 block of 5th Avenue.

The forfeiture complaint asks a judge to deliver the 2005 Chevy Tahoe to another Illinois law enforcement agency, order it sold at a public auction or have it destroyed.

To read Joliet Patch's Aug. 23 coverage of the Joliet Walmart parking lot shooting, go here.