
Officials say a convicted felon fired a shot at a Good Samaritan who came to a woman’s aid in Waukegan and then tried continuing to shoot but the gun malfunctioned.
Darren L. Aldridge, 33, of Waukegan, was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm, felon in possession of a weapon, three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and obstructing a peace officer.
A Waukegan police officer was on patrol on December 21 when he observed a disturbance involving a group at Butrick Street and Grand Avenue.
Officers arrived and heard someone yelling that a person had been shot, according to Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Dino Katris.
Officers interviewed people at the scene who reported there was a domestic dispute between Aldridge and a woman.
Another couple saw Aldridge push the woman and a man intervened and tried to break up the altercation by getting in between the two, Katris said.
Katris said Aldridge pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the male victim as he came to the woman’s aid.
Aldridge fired the gun at the victim and attempted to fire a second shot at the victim but the gun did not fire, Katris said.
Witnesses identified pointed to Aldridge as the suspect as he was fleeing the scene when officers arrived.
Katris said officers told him to stop but he refused and ran into a building.
Officers ran after the man and announced themselves as they approached the building.
Someone told the officers they needed a warrant and officers waited outside while coordinating the next steps, Katris said.
Aldridge was spotted fleeing from an exit of the building and officers were able to arrest him.
A sweep of the area was conducted and a pistol matching the description of the gun involved in the shooting was located.
Katris said the magazine was partially ejected from the gun with ammunition missing. It is believed the second shot from the gun did not fire because the magazine was not fully inserted.
Witnesses positively identified Aldridge as the gunman following his arrest.
Katris said Aldridge initially told officers that the witnesses and victim probably thought he had a gun on him and that they believed he shot his gun first.
Detectives later interviewed Aldridge and he said he did not know anything about a gun despite earlier referring to “his gun,” Katris said.
Aldridge does not have a concealed carry license or Firearm Owner’s Identification card. He is a convicted felon after being convicted of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in Cook County in a 2011 case.
At the time of the shooting, Aldridge was on pre-trial release for reckless conduct, obstruction and resisting arrest in Cook County.
The charges stem from an incident where police received a man with a gun call on September 18 and Aldridge, who matched the description, ran from officers, Katris said.
While on pre-trial release in that case, Aldridge was arrested again in Cook County for a domestic battery where he was accused of strangling a woman and striking her in the face. The case has since been dismissed.
Prosecutors called Aldridge a real and present threat to the community as he is a convicted felon not allowed to possess firearms and that no conditions of release could mitigate the threat.
Katris said that Aldridge fired a gun at a person for “simply trying to de-escalate a domestic violence situation” and attempted to shoot the firearm again when his first shot missed.
A public defender for Aldridge said the man asserts his innocence and sought his release pending trial with strict conditions.
Lake County Judge James Newman granted a petition to detain Aldridge pending trial filed by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Newman said that there were no conditions of release to mitigate the threat that Aldridge poses to the community after overviewing the evidence presented in the case.
During the detention hearing, the judge scolded Aldridge for interrupting the court hearing multiple times.
“When I tell you to be quiet, I had to tell you two or three times. Even in a courtroom like this, you weren’t able to follow the rules of the court,” Newman said.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 14.