An employee working at a grocery store in Waukegan is facing charges after he allegedly shot a manager with an air gun, requiring the victim to be transported to the hospital.
Danny Rivera, 27, of the 2900 block of Brookside Avenue in Waukegan, was charged with aggravated battery using a deadly weapon, a Class 3 felony.
Officers with the Waukegan Police Department were called to the Jewel-Osco, 3124 North Lewis Avenue, for a report of an active shooter on Sunday, according to Lake County State’s Attorney Dino Katris and court records.
Rivera works at a staffing agency and was assigned to the Jewel-Osco.
The manager at the store told Rivera to move some carts but Rivera became angry, Katris said.
The two were separated but Rivera began wandering the store looking around 9:54 p.m.
Katris said the manager was in a back room when Rivera, who was holding an airgun pistol behind his back, found him.
Rivera allegedly shot the victim at least two times with a Sig Sauer P226 airgun pellet pistol.
The victim was transported by ambulance to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville with a puncture wound to his neck that caused him to bleed, Katris said.
Doctors confirmed the BB pellets did not go into the victim’s neck.
Surveillance video showed the shooting and showed both the victim and Rivera running away.
Officers arrested Rivera after finding him at his residence a short time later.
He had the airgun in his waistband and admitted to shooting the victim, Katris said.
Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak ordered Rivera held on a $300,000 bond.
Rivera remains held in the Lake County Jail and would need to post $30,000 cash in order to be released.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 13.