A man who punched a Lake County court security officer after being sentenced to prison for a Gurnee shooting yelled expletives during a bond hearing and whined about wanting to go home.
Maseo B. Rosser, 22, of Winthrop Harbor, was at the Lake County Circuit Court in Waukegan around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday.
He was being sentenced after pleading guilty to aggravated discharge of a firearm, court records show.
The charge stemmed from Rosser firing shots at a homeowner who confronted him and a second suspect during a car burglary in Gurnee in June 2020.
Rosser was out on bond prior to the sentencing.
Lake County Judge George Strickland sentenced Rosser during the Wednesday hearing to seven years and six months in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
A Lake County sheriff’s court officer began the process of taking Rosser into custody, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
Rosser attacked the court officer by punching him in the face and headbutting him, Covelli said.
Another court officer and two deputies who were in the courtroom were eventually able to subdue Rosser, who continued to resist arrest for several minutes.
Covelli said that Rosser then verbally threatened a local police officer, who was in the courtroom after testifying at the sentencing hearing.
The court officer sustained a broken nose as a result of the attack.
Rosser was taken into custody and remanded to the Lake County Jail.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office reviewed the incident and approved charges of aggravated battery to a peace officer, resisting a peace officer causing injury and aggravated assault.
Rosser appeared in court Friday for a bond hearing. He asked the judge to sentence him during the hearing so he could get home to “his girl.”
Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak told Rosser he is facing three to seven years in prison for the new charges on top of his other sentence.
Potkonjak set bond at $250,000 for the new charges.
Even if Rosser could post 10% of the bond, he would still be held in the Lake County Jail because he has been sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections in the Gurnee case.
During the hearing, Rosser demanded a speedy trial and repeated that he “was just trying to go home.”
Rosser also claimed he did not do anything and has been a “stand-up member of society” over the past two years while he was out on bond for the shooting.
Multiple court security officers escorted Rosser, who was handcuffed, out of the courtroom while he yelled “f–k you” and other expletives.
“Instead of accepting accountability for his past actions, this individual made the poor choice to attack our staff, which is nothing short of cowardly,” Sheriff John Idleburg said following the Wednesday attack.
“I, along with all of our staff, are wishing our court officer a speedy recovery, and we look forward to having him back at work soon,” Idleburg said.