Federal Corrections Officer and Friend Accused of Shooting At Apartment Building: Cops

ORLAND HILLS, IL -- A federal corrections officer and his friend were arrested after police said they shot at an apartment building in Orland Hills.

Renault Johnson, and his friend, Edward Loggins, both 34, appeared before Cook County Judge Peter Felice on a charge of aggravated discharge of a firearm. Loggins currently has a pending domestic violence case.

The prosecutor said that Johnson and Loggins went to an apartment complex on March 20 in the 9300 block of West Hunter Drive. One of the occupants said he heard banging on the door. When he went to the hall, he saw Johnson allegedly holding a gun.

When the man tried to run into the apartment, Johnson put his foot in the door. The man yelled for his brother, the prosecutor said.

According to the charges, Johnson yelled that the men “were all going to die.” A woman in the apartment went to the balcony with the baby. Johnson and Loggins went outside, and were said to have fired two to three shots at the building. Surveillance cameras caught the incident on video.

Orland Hills police said they found the gun on the floorboard inside their vehicle, Johnson was allegedly found with two shell casings in his pocket. Other shell casings were found outside,. Johnson also appeared to be heavily intoxicated, the prosecutor said.

The men’s attorney told Judge Felice that Loggins owned a mechanical shop. He had an argument with his wife and had left the house to cool off. When he realized he didn’t have his keys, he went back to get them and his wife had locked the door.

“He kicked the door down,” the attorney said. “That’s why he was charged with domestic violence.

Loggins attorney also said that his client lived in the building where the incident occurred. The neighbors across the hall. The attorney alleged the neighbors went to his sister’s unit where she lived with her kids and threatened to shoot them.

During the night of the confrontation, the attorney said the purported victims tried to shoot his clients. Johnson was not pointing his weapon at the building, but shot into the air, the attorney said.

Johnson put the gun into the trunk after someone called police to report hearing shots fired.

“He felt it was safer with the police coming that he not be armed,” the attorney said. “[Johnson] took the threat very seriously. If he picks up a felony or misdemeanor he’s put on unpaid leave.”

Judge Felice called the shooting of the gun “inappropriate.”

“Your attorney gave you a glowing, eloquent statement,” Felice told Johnson. “I know it’s going to cost him his job.”

Johnson was released on a $5,000 I-bond. The judge also ordered him to surrender his FOID card, conceal-carry permit and weapons to Orland Hills police.

The judge set Loggins’ bail at $50,000. Both men were ordered not to have contact with the victims.

Loggins and Johnson are due back in court April 12 in Bridgeview.