A 15-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man have been charged after a shootout in front of a Waukegan school in broad daylight left the man injured and the school struck by a stray bullet, police said.
The Waukegan Police Department responded around 1:45 p.m. Monday to the area of Menta Academy North, 621 Belvidere Road, for a report of a shooting in the street.
Police officers found Ricardo Perez, 27, of Beach Park, with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound in the street. Officers arrested a 15-year-old Waukegan boy, who was allegedly involved in the shooting, a few blocks away.
Detectives believe that Perez and the 15-year-old boy had a verbal altercation in the street. During the altercation, both Perez and the boy pulled out handguns and fired multiple rounds at each other.
Both handguns were recovered at the scene by police. No one else besides Perez was injured in the shooting. The Menta Academy was in session at the time of the shooting and was struck by a stray bullet.
An off-duty police officer was at the school providing security during the incident and assisted in the lockdown of the school. No Menta students or staff were involved in the shooting.
Perez has since been treated and released from the hospital. He has been charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm within 1000 feet of a school and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
The 15-year-old boy, whose name is being withheld by police because he is a juvenile, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon.
Perez remains held in the Lake County Jail on a $75,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on July 9. The boy remains held at the Hulse Juvenile Detention Center in Vernon Hills.