U.S. Marshals and the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged one of two men wanted in the shooting, beating and robbery of a gas station clerk in Marengo in February.
Antonio Pedrote, 26, of the 3300 block of West 23rd Street in Chicago, was charged with armed robbery, a Class X felony, armed violence, a Class X felony, and aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony.
The incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. February 24 at the Circle K Shell gas station, 600 North State Street in Marengo.
Marengo Police Department Sgt. Andrew Kjellgren said at the time that officers found an adult victim, identified as Brian Pemble, suffering from a gunshot wound.
Pemble was treated at the scene by paramedics and flown to Javon Bea Hospital in Rockford in stable condition, according to Marengo Fire Protection District Capt. Patrick Fanning.
The 35-year-old victim, an on-duty gas station clerk, was shot once in the leg during the robbery.
Kjellgren said the two men, one of them later identified as Pedrote, entered the store armed with handguns and tried robbing the business.
Pedrote held the clerk at gunpoint while he got the contents of the register, according to a police bulletin. He then ordered the clerk to open the safe and pistol-whipped the clerk on two occasions.
Suspect 2, who has not been publicly identified, was watching the door and then went behind the register and told the clerk he had “three seconds.” The suspect counted down and shot the clerk in the leg.
Additional threats were made to the clerk and one of the suspects said “Keith, Keith, come on,” according to the bulletin.
Both suspects left and got into a white van that was seen driving northbound on State Street.
The Marengo Police Department obtained an arrest warrant for Pedrote on Friday, nearly three months after the incident. It is unclear how police identified the man as a suspect.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Apprehension Unit and U.S. Marshall’s Great Lakes Task Force arrested Pedrote in Chicago on Monday.
Police said that the investigation is ongoing but they have been assisted by many agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, McHenry Police, Aurora Police, Naperville Police, Downers Grove Police, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Illinois Department of Corrections, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Apprehension Unit and the U.S. Marshall’s Great Lakes Task Force.
Police also said that the two suspects were linked in numerous other armed robberies throughout the Chicago area.