Prosecutors say an adult son pushed his mother in front of police officers in Waukegan after he became mad that she told him to stop playing video games and then officers found guns in his room.
The Waukegan Police Department responded around 8 p.m. on December 3 to the 2200 block of Linden Avenue for a report of a domestic dispute.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Theis said officers spoke with the mother of Carlos F. Rodriguez, 19, of Waukegan.
She reported that Rodriguez struggles with alcohol and was under the influence.
His parents went into his room while Rodriguez was playing video games and told him to clean up, Theis said.
Theis said Rodriguez became agitated and argumentative with the parents and then pushed his mother.
Officers arrived and witnessed him threatening to kill his father and kill himself, Theis said.
They also witnessed him push his mother again in front of them, which was caught on bodycam video.
Theis said the mother told officers she found guns in Rodriguez’s room six months earlier and confiscated them.
She said she was scared for herself and her husband because Rodriguez has threatened to kill them, Theis said.
The parents gave consent for officers to search their home and officers found two loaded 9mm handguns, one of which was a ghost gun, in Rodriguez’s room.
Theis said the clear threats to his parents and not only himself show he is a real and present threat to his parents.
“The defendant had the means to harm his parents and has been threatening to use the guns against his parents and to commit suicide,” Theis said, adding that he has threatened to confront police with the guns.
Theis argued there are no conditions of release to protect the parents, police or community.
While prosecutors said Rodriguez had guns, including an unserialized firearm, in his possession, the man was only charged with domestic battery and criminal damage to property, which are both misdemeanors.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted a petition to detain Rodriguez pending trial and remanded him to the Lake County Jail.
The judge called the offense violent and that he poses a danger to himself and his parents.
Nerheim also said it is apparent that Rodriguez has access to weapons, calling it a “significant concern” to the court.
On Thursday, one week after Rodriguez was detained, the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office offered Rodriguez a plea deal in the case.
He pleaded guilty to an amended count of battery, a Class A misdemeanor, in exchange for a sentence of 12 months of supervised supervision.
Rodriguez was released from jail upon the plea, which ordered him to not consume illegal drugs or alcohol and not possess firearms.
If Rodriguez completes the supervision successfully, a conviction will not be entered on his record.